No worms were harmed in the making of "How to Eat Fried Worms," but one classic book was.

Writer/director Bob Dolman ("The Banger Sisters") mangles Thomas Rockwell's gross-out children's novel about an elementary school bet gone wrong, cramming two-weeks' worth of plot activity into a single Saturday. Just enough of Rockwell's charm seeps through, amplified by a capable cast of child actors, to make the movie passable family entertainment. But it's disappointing that what could have been a sterling kid's story on par with "Zathura" or even "Stand By Me" is nothing more than a trifle.

Rockwell's original story had a boy — looking for respect and money to buy a minibike — bet a rival that he could eat 15 worms in 15 days. The fun came in the kids' cleverness in finding zany ways to circumvent adult supervision and cook the squirmy snacks.

Dolman's movie, which has a nice ear for the way kids talk to one another, drastically lowers the stakes and ramps up the unlikeliness. The kids run free and have a ridiculous amount of culinary prowess.

Billy (Luke Benward), the new kid at school, gets on the wrong side of the red-headed bully, Joe (Adam Hicks).

Joe and his cronies fill Billy's thermos with worms, then nickname him wormboy. Hiding that he has a weak stomach, Billy pretends that he likes to eat worms and insists he can eat 10 in one day. Joe bets that Billy can't do it. The loser has to walk through school with worms stuffed down his pants.

Billy soldiers into the fray under the nose of his mom (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) and dad (Thomas Cavanagh). Making matters worse, Billy has to baby-sit his little brother, Woody (Ty Panitz) on worm day. Erika (Hallie Kate Eisenberg), an unpopular classmate, lends help.

Joe's gang sneaks into an uncle's restaurant to cook up a worm omelette, fry a worm in lard and make others into souffle-like concoctions and smoothies. Their goal is to make the worms grosser, but the movie becomes a fifth grade Iron Chef competition.

If such creativity went into the script, the movie would leave a better taste in your mouth.