Movie Review:

Because of Winn-Dixie

by Lynn B.

Did you ever feel isolated and like nobody understands what you are going through except…your dog or cat? Unconditional love rocks!

In Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal (AnnaSophia Robb) is a lonely young girl who has just moved to tiny Naomi, Florida with her minister dad. New friends are hard to come by. Among the unlikely possibilities are Amanda (Courtney Jines), who always looks ticked off, Sweetie Pie (Elle Fanning), younger and kind of wacky, then there are the two town bullies the Dewberry brothers, Dunlop (Nick Price) and Stevie (Luke Benward), who love teasing Opal.

After rescuing a stray dog that is busy wrecking the local super market (the Winn-Dixie), Opal has found her best friend. Dad isn’t thrilled at taking on the mutt since his trailer park manager says no pets. Opal has a hard time getting her dad to talk about her mom, who left the family when Opal was only three. To keep busy, she takes a job sweeping up at a local petshop run by Otis (Dave Matthews) a clerk with a jailhouse past whose guitar-playing soothes all the animals.

Winn-Dixie has a way of leading Opal to people whose lives they can change together. This includes recovering alcoholic recluse Gloria Dump (Cicely Tyson) and lonely librarian Miss Franny (Eva-Marie Saint). Through Winn-Dixie and her new friends, Opal is able to bring a whole town out of a reclusive shell and back to a spirit of love and community and she and dad even come to a peaceful resolution on the “mom” issue.

This movie is well… sweet. Ya gotta love it just like you’ve got to love the cute dog. The film totally follows the award-winning children’s book and the actors, especially Cicely Tyson, make the characters colorful and very involving. Dave Matthews, without his band, is quite good as an introspective guy who never deserved to be in jail. The dog (two of them) is a very expressive character on his own. He even smiles (with a little tweak from CGI). Young AnnaSophia Robb as Opal isn’t quite up to the level of Dakota Fanning (who we can immediately see in this part) but she’s close.

If you have ever felt lonely or out of place (and who hasn’t?) then this is a warm and fuzzy movie for you… and your whole family. I loved it.

For a healing message of community in troubled times… 4.5 out of 5 stars

This movie is rated PG

Official Movie Web Site - Because of Winn Dixie

Pictures courtesy of and copyright 20th Century Fox, 2005