Because of Winn-Dixie
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
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.
A sweet, family-friendly retelling of a touching and funny Newbery Award-winning children's book.
In pace, sensibility, and big, beating heart, this is a child's first indie film, and it's the better for it.
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.
Robb is remarkably assured; there isn't a false note in her performance.
Best Family Feature Film - Comedy or Musical
Young Artist Awards (2006)
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