Touching 'Winn-Dixie' is an indie film for kids

February 18, 2005|Ty Burr, Globe Staff

In one scene in "Because of Winn-Dixie," two young boys, all grass stains and whifflecuts, peer through the front door keyhole of a faded Southern mansion. One turns to the other and says with immeasurable disgust, "They're just sittin' in there talkin' about how they feel." Then the two run off like frightened cats.

Children who are used to the rapid-fire sugar shock of Disney and Nickelodeon movies may feel the same way. No one gets slimed in "Winn-Dixie" -- except, occasionally, by life -- but this adaptation of Kate DiCamillo's 2000 young-adult novel has sturdier strengths than the latest digital-effects whiz-bang or pandering Hilary/Lindsay extravaganza. In pace, sensibility, and big, beating heart, this is a child's first indie film, and it's the better for it.

Ten-year-old Opal (AnnaSophia Robb) has moved with her dad, whom she calls Preacher (Jeff Daniels), to a flyspeck Florida hamlet called Naomi, where he has been hired to minister to the local Baptist congregation. The "church" is a converted storefront; father and daughter live rent-free at a local trailer park so the crotchety owner (B.J. Hopper) can get a tax deduction; the few kids Opal's age don't want anything to do with her. It's high summer and the girl's spirits couldn't be lower, especially since Preacher refuses to talk about her mother, who vanished when she was 3.

Girl needs a dog, clearly. And so, one afternoon when she runs down to the local Winn-Dixie supermarket, there is a rawboned mutt scampering through the produce section. Opal claims him, names him after the store -- this is serendipity, not product placement -- and brings him home to a slack-jawed father.

Oh, for pity's sake, haven't we been here before? Repeat after me: Winn-Dixie will bring Preacher around, he'll introduce Opal to all the lonely individuals of Naomi, and he'll teach her the value of friendship and connection before worrisome plot contrivances kick in during the final act. And he won't die because no one has killed off a dog since "Old Yeller."