Because of Winn-Dixie

2005 Comedy

It's not finishing school or a traditional upbringing that causes ten-year-old Opal to learn about the world outside of her own backyard, but rather a particularly awkward-looking mutt named Winn-Dixie. Based on a novel by Kate DiCamillo, Winn-Dixie and Opal not only become privy to the eventful, if eccentric, lives of their neighbors (including a librarian who fought off a bear with nothing but a novel, a blind woman who claims to "see" with her heart, and a sensitive ex-con turned pet store clerk), but Opal herself manages to reconcile some of the depression left over after her mother had abandoned the family seven years earlier.

Director: Wayne Wang

Starring: AnnaSophia Robb,Jeff Daniels, Cicely Tyson, Dave Matthews, Eva Marie Saint

Reviews

  • To Winn-Dixie's great credit, both as a book and as a dandy, dignified movie, there's nothing condescendingly lesson-like in the wisdom India acquires.

    Lisa Schwarzbaum - Entertainment Weekly

    29 November 2012

  • A sweet, family-friendly retelling of a touching and funny Newbery Award-winning children's book.

    Claudia Puig - USA Today

    29 November 2012

  • In pace, sensibility, and big, beating heart, this is a child's first indie film, and it's the better for it.

    Ty Burr - The Boston Globe

    29 November 2012

  • Matthews holds his own with his experienced co-stars, and his half- talking/half-singing explanation of his criminal past is the movie's best scene.

    - The San Francisco Chronicle

    29 November 2012

  • Robb is remarkably assured; there isn't a false note in her performance.

    Desson Thomson - The Washington Post

    29 November 2012

Awards

  • Best Family Feature Film - Comedy or Musical

    Young Artist Awards (2006)