Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)
The Cast
Annasophia Robb .... Opal
Jeff Daniels .... Preacher
Cicely Tyson .... Gloria
Dave Matthews .... Otis
Eva Marie Saint .... Miss Franny
Harland Williams .... Policeman
Personally, I find it difficult to believe that the director of this movie, Wayne Wang, also directed the near soft-core porn movie The Center of the World. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against soft-core porn (or most hardcore for that matter), but they're just such completely different character studies. I felt kinda dirty after Center of the World, which is completely different than how I felt after watching Winn-Dixie.
Based on a super popular novel (that I think I'd heard of), Winn-Dixie is your typical feel-good family movie, with the sad child, the neglectful parent, smalltown America, yeah yeah. It's pretty formulaic, but in a very satisfying way for me. When the story is formulaic, it's up to the director & the cast to bring it up to a higher level, & in my opinion, they did their job admirably.
Wang makes some pretty brilliant filming decisions throughout the movie. Instead of focussing the camera on the dog tearing around the house, he instead focuses on the father (Daniels) & daughter's (Robb) reactions. Which kinda makes it look like they're watching a tennis match, but it lends itself to your own imagination. There's no way Wang could make the dog running around look as funny as it does in your own imagination, so he leaves it to the actors to showcase the dog's actions through their expressions.
The cast is tremendous, in my humblest of opinions. Almost all character actors, they give emotionally stirring performances throughout, particularily young Annasophia Robb. She comes across as a cross between a young Natalie Portman & Scarlett Johannsson, but a bit more real. She's one helluva fine actress for her age though. The elder stateswomen (Saint & Tyson) also give excellent supporting performances, though Tyson occasionally comes across as a lunatic. It could be expected though. Dave Matthews gives a surprisingly good take on his character, the former jailbird Otis, that could touch even the most jaded audience.
Maybe it's just 'cause I'm an emotional wreck at the moment, but I really loved this movie. Winn-Dixie is the new Benji to me. Actually, I didn't particularily care for the old Benji, so Winn-Dixie is on a platform of excellence all to himself. IMDB.com is woefully underinformative on this movie, with only one so-called "memorable quote" & no listing of the dog that actually played Winn-Dixie. I wish I could watch this movie over again for the first time because of how much I loved it, though Tyson's screeching was occasionally very off-putting. I'd like to rave more, but I need another beer. 4.5 outta 5.