Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)

It should be no secret by now that "Because of Winn-Dixie" is a children's film, its target audience of pre-teens are meant to be entranced by the title character and the many cute animals even if they have not read the book from which the film was adapted. This big budget ($20 Million) film made a lot of money by carefully targeting this audience with a fairy tale story where there are no really "bad" people.

Being a children's film is not a fault or at least should not be a fault. But teenagers and adults should understand going in that "Because of Winn-Dixie" is not on the "family film" level of "Monkey Trouble" or "My Dog Skip". There is less here for older viewers unless they are willing to let themselves view the film from a child's eyes.

That said there are some elements for more sophisticated viewers if they just look hard enough.

Director Wayne Wang engages in a fair amount of self-parody. Although 10 year old Opal (the main human character) is played realistically, Dakota Fanning's little sister Elle's character is (intentionally) one of the most sugary in film history, appropriately named Sweetie Pie Thomas. John McConnell and Harland Williams play the crybaby grocery store manager and the goofy sheriff with a kind of homage to Barney Fife and Roscoe P. Coltraine.

Jeff Daniels gives an excellent performance as Opal's somewhat distanced father. Daniels plays the character with a nice balance. The father-daughter scenes are very believable and by far the best part of the film. There were many ways that these scenes could have gone wrong but Daniels manages to dodge the traps and give us a conflicted character with whom to connect.

Dave Matthews, Cecily Tyson, and Eva Marie Saint are interesting in supporting roles.

Finally there is AnnaSophia Robb (Opal), who like Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird" provides voice-over narration to help flesh out the storyline. Unlike Sweetie Pie, Robb underplays her character nicely, and is "pleasingly cute" as a Tomboy with great big eyes and a young Jodie Foster/Lindsey Lohen style. This was her first feature but she quickly followed it up with a role in the new "Willy Wonka" movie, the two roles are polar opposites so it appears that Robb has a decent about of versatility. She should have quite a future as an actress.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Fmovies: Opal, the daughter of a preacher, is a girl with a mind of her own. When she meets Winn-Dixie, she has found a pal. Her father is a man that is in pain. He is trying to reconcile himself to his present circumstances. Arriving at the small southern town, he must do good work in order to attract a faithful congregation. He doesn't have much to fear, just leave it Opal to get everyone together in a place where people have grown apart.

The great book by Kate DiCamillo, is an excellent book for young adults. Joan Singleton adapted it for the screen and Wayne Wang directed a nice cast that produced a movie that, while some would think it's too sugary for their taste, it captured perfectly the essence of a small southern town.

The sweet AnnaSophia Robb plays the leading role. This young actress is a natural, or so it seems. Jeff Daniels, one of our best actors is seen as the preacher who can't forget his wife and who has to come to terms with himself. Cicely Tyson and Eva Maria Saint are perfect as two of the town's oldest citizens that are won over by Opal's goodness. Elle Fanning is seen as Sweetie Pie, a lovely girl. B. J. Hopper and Dave Mathews also contributed to the film.

This film was clearly targeted for young audiences. It has the right ingredients that prove to be a magical combination for family movies, a girl and a cute dog, a sure formula for appealing to audiences. Wayne Wang, an unlikely choice for director, brings all these elements together for a film that will not disappoint.

Today, I took my three year old to see her first movie. This, you must understand is a task, as you must always be careful about language and "mature" situations that so many people today see as normal.

I am not going to give a synopsis of the movie, as most of the other reviewers do. Go see the movie yourself. I will only say that both my daughter and myself were totally engrossed with this touching and well-played story. The characters were very enjoyable and I thought the actors did a fine job.

I noticed that everyone in the audience, children along with their parents had big smiles on their faces as we all got up to leave at the movie's end. I really enjoyed this movie, and so did my young daughter.

Because of Winn-Dixie fmovies. This movie starts a little slow, I only went to see it because Dave Matthews is in it...it starts slow yes, but it has it's moments, good moments, funny moments. I think there are a lot of lessons in this movie and that makes it a great movie to go see with the kids...only one or two cuss words, not bad ones either!! I think if nothing else, the kids will enjoy the dog in this movie. I enjoyed seeing the dog because his actions reminded me of my own puppy. I can't wait to see other Annasohpia Robb movies.. she's a good little actress and adorable, very adorable...Dave was good too (I also liked him in "Where the Red FernGrows"). I've always enjoyed Jeff Daniels in movies and he didn't let me down in this one either.

Opal (AnnaSophia Robb), is a 10-year-old girl who has just moved to a small town in Florida with her preacher father (Jeff Daniels). The move has caused Opal to lose all her friends, and now she must start all over again. Life has been a little tough for Opal, since her mother abandoned them when she was three. Opal's father asks her to pick up a few items for dinner at the Winn-Dixie supermarket. While in the store, a big dog is running loose in the store with clerks chasing after him. The store manager wants to call the dog pound, but Opal says that the dog is hers, and his name is Winn-Dixie. Opal take the dog home, and must convince her father to keep the dog. He agrees to keep the dog temporarily, until a new owner can be found. They go around town putting up posters of the dog, and later in the day Opal goes around and takes the posters down, because she secretly wants to keep the dog. Opal discovers that Winn-Dixie is able to make friends with everyone he meets, and now Opal has some new friends, because of Winn-Dixie. This is a good heartfelt story of the bond between a little girl and her dog. The story shows that a dog can bring happiness to a lonely girl and open up hearts of the people in town. I don't know how they did it, but the dog can actually smile. You can take your children to see this touching story. (20th Century Fox, Run time 1:46, Rated PG) (7/10)

This movie was a pleasant surprise in it's overall acting and charm, with a wonderfully directed cast. Winn-Dixie was a fun movie and the dog was really not the star of this one. While the dog had charm, it was little India Opal who stole the show. With Dave Matthews and Cicely Tyson playing wonderful roles, the characters in this film steal your heart. Opal charms the old folks of this town who seem to have lost their joy. Once the candy factory was shut down the citizens hearts left with it. It is Opal who brings the citizens back together and opens up a closed community by throwing a party for the people in the town.