Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Admirable film.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

What do I need to say? I absolutely adore this movie. I remember seeing it on TV as a little girl and forgetting what it was called, not finding it again until a few years later. One day I saw it on a discount rack at the store and begged my nan to buy it for me.It's actually been a few years since I'd seen it, but I found the DVD in my bookshelf and popped it in for another watch. The story is very sweet and the dog is beautiful. The overall message of the story is wonderful.They really don't sugarcoat Opal's (the protagonist) situation and instead explain how life has both happy and sad moments, and that everyone should be given a chance. It's certainly worth a watch with the family! It does have some sad moments, but it gives the story depth and really makes you understand more about the characters. It will always have a special place in my heart as the dog resembles our old family dog from when I was young.

Opal Buloni (Anna Sophia Robb) moved with her preacher father (Jeff Daniels) to the small town of Naomi, Florida. Her mom had left them. He sends her to the local Winn Dixie grocery store where a dog is going wild. Opal pretends to the owner naming the dog Winn-Dixie. The dog is so rambunctious that her father calls the pound. She convinces him to keep the dog and gets a job working at the pet shop with Otis (Dave Matthews). She befriends blind hermit Gloria Dump (Cicely Tyson) with a tree and librarian Miss Franny Block (Eva Marie Saint) with a tall tale of an encounter with a bear.Anna Sophia Robb is a terrific child actress. She has great charisma and has very good range. She's great as a tomboy as well as with the other girls. This is a movie about lost and regret. I love all of the characters and they are played by solid actors. Maybe Otis could be played by somebody more menacing but Dave Matthews does get the damaged part of the character. It's a nice story of people struggling to move on from their past and it's got a nice cast.

Because of Winn-Dixie is a horrible mess of a film, the story is extremely formulaic and cheesy, plus full of major plot holes. It just doesn't work at all. The performances are also horrible, particularly Annasophia Robb in the lead roll as the little girl the film circles around. Jeff Daniels and Eva Marie Saint are usually great actors but here they not only give their own worst performances, but some of the worst ever put on screen. The direction is sentimental and horrible, just awful. This guy should just stop making movies, I hope he never does does it again. The dog is just annoying, the effects horrible, the plot holes are many, it just stinks.

I went with some friends to see this (mostly because there was nothing else to see), and they all seemed to like it. I'm afraid I've missed something. I just thought it was ridiculous, I almost wanted to think of it as one of those unbearable stereotypical animal movies like The Amazing Panda Adventure or Mom, Can I Keep Her? Fortunately, it wasn't AS bad (if anything could go as far).The storyline is probably the most pointless. Who could write a book about this and be fueled to continue? If someone wrote a book about how a lonely turtle befriends a coco puff and they embark on a quest to roam the turtle's tank, I'd probably be reminded of this. Foremost, I think there are PLENTY of dog lover stories clogging the drain that is Hollywood, don't you think? Sorry, Winn-Dixie fans. That's how it goes. If you haven't seen this, don't bother. Life is too short. Watch something worth your while.