Because of Winn-Dixie

Rating:
Summary: The Movie Is Not Enough
Review: Although the movie is engaging and sweet, reading this book evokes emotions that the movie cannot quite capture. For instance, in the book, Opal's father agrees to keeping the dog relatively quickly, whereas in the movie he takes a long time to warm up to Winn Dixie. This seemingly small difference shows readers of the book that the preacher has a sensitive heart, while the preacher in the movie appears more calloused. Similarly, in the movie, the preacher refuses to tell Opal the tenth thing about her mother, and he forgets about her party. In the book, on the other hand, he tells Opal all ten facts about her mother, and he is one of the first guests to arrive at the party. This makes him appear much more genuine and loving in the book, making the reader feels as though the preacher sincerely desires a close relationship with his daughter but is still experiencing hurt of his own. He appears hardened in the movie, and only after a long walk in the rain looking for Winn Dixie does he finally break down. Finally, the choice of the movie producers to have Winn Dixie come in from the rain provides a dramatic ending, but it does not have the sentimental value of the book, where Winn Dixie is found sneezing and smiling under one of the beds in Gloria Dump's house. Overall, although the movie is fun to watch, it does not provide the same sense of connection with the preacher, or the satisfaction of seeing Winn Dixie choose to stay near Opal during the thunderstorm. The movie is just not enough.

Rating:
Summary: the unfair question
Review: "Which was better, the book or the movie?"
In the case of Winn-Dixie, the movie is excellent as a movie, but not as a substitute for the book. One cannot judge a movie the same way one judges a book. The substitution of another's interpretation for one's own imagination will always disappoint, especially when their interpretation is noticeably limited by agenda and target audience. The delicate craftsmanship that makes the novel a joy to read is challenged by several points of discrepancy found in the screen version. Most lamentably, the movie adds the typecast role of the lumbering, bumbling police officer whose only real function is to keep small, squirming children giggling and happy. For the rest of us, and probably for the small squirming children also, this would have been more enjoyably accomplished by simply shortening the movie. Remove the dumb cop scenes, and also omit the landlord-hates-the-dog scenes. Neither subplot adds enough credibility to the storyline to merit the attention and time that are given them. The third major difference is the absence of the preacher's revelation that Opal's mother drank. This is one of the aspects of the book that makes it so compelling and believable. Probably removed from the movie for the sake of its young target audience, it is replaced with the vague, unsatisfactorily superficial explanation "she didn't like being a preacher's wife." Despite these discrepancies, the movie is enchanting and beautiful- differently charming than the book, but charming nonetheless.