Because Of Winn Dixie Review
by Jon Popick (jpopick AT sick-boy DOT com)February 18th, 2005
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Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, here are the three things I liked about Because of Winn-Dixie, the new My Girl-meets-Turner & Hooch-meets-My Dog Skip film from the formerly formidable but recently forgettable director Wayne Wang (Maid in Manhattan):
Number 3: You know how they say you should never work with kids or animals? Well, you can stick a fork in Jeff Daniels.
Number 2: I thought, during the opening credits, that I saw Because was written by Boyz in the Hood's John Singleton. It wasn't, though. Because was written by somebody named Joan Singleton, who may not have ever even driven through a hood. Just thinking about John Singleton and this movie is still pretty funny. I'll probably be giggling about it for weeks.
Number 1: The film's title will, from this point forward, be my stock answer any time somebody asks me a question I don't know how to answer, or don't particularly want to answer. "Why were you late to work?" "Because of Winn-Dixie." "How come you didn't finish cleaning the basement?" "Because of Winn-Dixie." "Does my ass look big in these jeans?" Okay, maybe it won't work all of the time. When it doesn't, I'll just pull out my previous stock answer of, "How the hell do I know, Connie?"
Because, faithfully adapted by Joan Singelton from Kate Dicamillo's popular tween-targeted novel, is about 10-year-old Opal (Annasophia Robb - she'll be playing Violet in the upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and the trouble she has adjusting to her new surroundings when her preacher-father (Jeff Daniels) and her move to sleepy Naomi, Florida. One day, while reluctantly running errands for dad, Opal finds an ugly, smelly hound running amok at the local Winn-Dixie grocery store. Fearful that the dog will be taken to the pound and put down, Opal claims the dog as her own.
Prior to seeing Because, you could make a checklist of things that you're sure will happen over the slightly-longer-than-it-needed-to-be running time:
- Dad initially hates dog - check.
- When left alone for the first time, dog destroys contents of house - check.
- Dog helps Opal make friends with a handful of Naomi's most colorful residents - check.
- Dog helps the small town heal all of its decades-old scars - check.
- Dog eventually get Dad to open up to Opal about where the frick her mother has been for the last seven years - check.
- Dog drops dead - psych! That's the only one that didn't happen, and I actually felt gypped when I realized he was going to survive the closing credits.
When you know this much about a film you've never seen, I'm not sure why it bothers to exist. Yeah, I guess it's the kind of thing you can take your kids to see, but let's be honest: You'll all be much happier at Constantine, which offers a much more important moral lesson.
1:46 - PG for thematic elements and brief mild language
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