Because of Winn-Dixie (DVD)

I don't want to rip kid's movies. It's just not the route I want to go, curmudgeon before my time. And really, poking holes in a kid's movie isn't really a sign of great intelligence. It's not hard to do. Theoretically anyone besides a kid could do it. So I'm going to take it easy on the ripping. I'm not saying I can wholly avoid it, some will be needed, but you should know I get very little joy out of it.

With that out of the way I've got to take umbrage with a few of the basic plot points. First off, I've never been to a town where adorable little polite girls and precocious dogs have such a rough time of it. I mean these people hate Opal Baloney (played by Anna Sophia Robb) and her dog Winn Dixie (played by two dogs). In fact, one particularly old bastard sort of suggests shooting Winn Dixie to shut him up. Even Opal's daddy (Jeff Daniels) seems to hate both Opal and her doggy at times, and he's a preacher! The ones that don't hate Winn Dixie are at the very least terrified when he acts like a dog. Meanwhile, this mutt Winn Dixie is bringing the whole town together. He's putting up with plenty of crap to do it, but he's trudging along gamely.

The story is also about Opal's quest to figure out who her momma was. Her momma left when she was three, just packed her bags and left. Thankfully Opal meets a quasi-witch named Gloria Dump and things take a turn for the better. She also begins working for Dave Matthews at a pet shop. Dave Matthews is amazingly good in this film, better then we have any reason to expect. Another interesting factor in this film is the "litmus lozenge." This is a candy that makes you remember sad things when you taste it. I'm not sure what exactly it has to do with Winn Dixie, or Opal, or momma leaving the preacher daddy, but I'm sure it's something poignant.

In the end I pretty much hated this movie, but that's no reason you shouldn't see it. I don't have a dog or kids so I can't be the target audience for this film. I think little tykes would like it, I think people who grew up in strange jerky towns would particularly adore it. Or maybe people those with a momma that left when they were three. If she just up and left you and the family then you might like it.

As far as the special features on Because of Winn-Dixie they are pretty minimal. The young actress (Robb) has a commentary on specific scenes, as does Jeff Daniels. The gag reel is amazing in how unfunny it is. During it you can kind of see Jeff Daniels getting ready to call his agent in a scene when he's holding a mouse. The "Diamond in the Rough" segment is interesting because they show some of the training methods and highlight the fact that two dogs were needed for filming, one was better at action, one was better at the more emotional scenes.

I don't remember which actress said "never work with children or animals" but I think she was on to something. Winn Dixie will be cutesy youngster fun for some. For all the other Curmudgeons, well, we still have good old Benji to remember fondly.