Movie Review- Because of Winn-Dixie

The story of Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo is about a little girl named India Opal Buloni, but you can just call her Opal, as she likes to say. She is the daughter of a preacher and just moved to Naomi for the preacher’s new job and does not have any friends and is struggling to deal with the fact that her mother left her and the preacher and she does not know why. This is all true until she finds Winn Dixie (a stray dog) in the local Winn Dixie grocery store and claims him as her own. Opal finds out really quickly that Winn-Dixie does not enjoy being alone and he starts to do everything Opal does. This includes going to church, going to work at the pet store, and going to the library. With Winn- Dixie always around Opal ends up making lots of friends, because of Winn-Dixie’s great charm and ability to smile. By the end of the story Opal realizes she does have a “family” in Naomi and that she does not need her Mama in her life for her heart to be full. She evens improves her relationship with the preacher, and he finally comes out of his turtle shell as she likes to call it.

I tend to always be a fan of books more than the movies and it was not any different with Because of Winn-Dixie. It is not that it was a bad movie; the movie was actually done quite well and stayed true to the book with a couple of exceptions. Opal even narrated lines right from the book in the movie during certain scenes and I found that to be a nice touch. I just picture scenes, settings, characters, and emotions differently in my head when reading the book than what directors and producers portray on the big screen. One scene that I thought was portrayed in the movie just like I pictured it in my head when reading Because of Winn-Dixie was when Otis is playing music for the animals in the pet store and they are all out of their cages and just listening. I found this to be a beautiful and moving scene. I did enjoy this scene, but I do not think casting Dave Matthews as Otis was the right decision. I could not get passed the fact that he was Dave Matthews and not “Otis, the drifter”, but I suppose this is a children’s movie and most children are not aware of who Dave Matthews is. Other than the character of Otis, I thought the movie was well cast.

There were some differences /add ins to the movie that were not in the book, some were small and others took a larger role in the movie. The small differences were as follows: in the movie Opal was in love with baseball and she always wore her jersey which was not mentioned in the book. There was a computer and TV in their trailer in the movie, which I thought did not fit well for the setting portrayed in the book, Opal had to hang up lost dog signs for Winn-Dixie, Winn-Dixie almost was taken away by the pound, and there was a police officer out to get Otis in the movie. I am sure all these things were added to make the plot of the movie more interesting and none of these add ins interrupted the original story line of the book too much.

Two larger differences in the movie that were not portrayed in the book were Mr. Alfred’s role. Mr. Alfred is the owner of the trailer park where Opal and the preacher live. In the book he is only mentioned once for letting Opal be an “exception” to live in an all adult trailer park, but in the movie he becomes a “villain” character making the preacher pay rent, because of having Winn-Dixie and threatening to send Winn-Dixie to the pound, but then in the end he ends up coming to Opal’s party just like of the rest of her new friends she makes that summer. The other big difference in the movie is the preacher does not show up to the party until after Opal goes back home to find Winn-Dixie. I feel that the relationship between Opal and her father in the movie seems a lot harsher than I imagined I conjured up in my head when reading the book.

Other then the laid out differences, the movie held pretty true to the book and I enjoyed watching it. For anyone that had not read the book first, I’m sure would have loved the movie. It is a cute family film that is appropriate for all ages and truly shows how important friendship and love really is. I did enjoy the book more, but I would recommend the movie to my friends, because it is a great way to spend an hour and a half and is a heartwarming tale, that I’m sure everyone would enjoy.