Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)

20th Century Fox presents a Wayne Wang film, starring Jeff Daniels. Written by Joan Singleton. Based on a book by Kate DiCamillo. 106m. PG for thematic elements and brief mild language.

2 stars

In every film with a canine as the central protagonist, there’s a point where the audience is asked to buy into the idea that dogs can irrevocably alter the bad fortunes of humans. In “Because of Winn-Dixie,” that scene comes fairly early, as a mongrel with no known lineage comes crashing through the produce aisle of a Southern supermarket chain.

It is here that the mutt is christened “Winn-Dixie” by a lonely 10-year-old girl, Opal (Annasophia Robb), whose spontaneous decision making ensures she’ll be bringing home fleas instead of macaroni and cheese for supper that night.

Of course bringing home someone else’s dog is never all right with parents; Opal’s father (Jeff Daniels) is no exception. He’s a Baptist minister the locals of Naomi, Fla. call “Preacher,” no doubt an occupational hazard for someone who might otherwise be fond of their forename.

Yet there’s a magic to this dog, the film suggests, who not only provides needed companionship to a nomadic youngster but also has the uncanny ability to create a support system for his girl friend. Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets bookish Miss Franny (Eva Marie Saint), the blind gardener Gloria (Cicely Tyson) and the withdrawn minder of a local pet shop, Otis (musician Dave Matthews, in his silver screen debut). All three are inherently searching for their own life connections, even if they don’t come right out and say it. In essence, Winn-Dixie is the mechanism through which Opal finds happiness and contentment in foreign surroundings.

It’s hard to fault a movie with such a straightforward, sanitary message. Yet the film lags terribly, its crystal-clean message deprived of few seedier suggestions or tangents. At a mid-day screening Saturday, I witnessed many children squirming in their seats and running up the aisles for concessions, a definitive indicator of the film’s main flaw.

Additionally, the cast acts like it has no stake in the ensemble element, each seemingly to come and go as disparate parts. Some are underutilized: Miss Franny dropped out for such a long period of time I assumed she’d suffered something ghastly, like a stroke.

Others are more creative with their time. One of the few bright spots of a movie - which followed the straight path between its setup and conclusion with nary a deviation - is the performance of Matthews. Entering the film, I had reservations about whether his fame as a musician would be too distracting to convince audiences he was inhabiting a character.

But the similarities between persona and character is probably what attracted Matthews to the role immediately. As an unofficial anthropologist of his band - I dedicated my teen-age existence to them, seemingly - I gathered the musician was immensely private, family-minded, but also a bit of a clown. His sense of humor skews toward the random, something that fits a drifter who observes many things without trying to be noticed himself.

There’s no doubt Matthews sees the role as an opportunity to impress his young twin daughters while cross-promoting his new album this spring. But I’ll forgive him for his motivations because he breathed life into a otherwise uncomplicated story.
As for director Wayne Wang, this is just another curious entry into a vastly scattered oeuvre. He’s excelled at human drama before, skillfully adapting Amy Tan’s brilliant novel, “The Joy Luck Club,” to the screen. But he’s also tackled decidedly more racy content and is just three years removed from the highly erotic “The Center of the World.” It’s amazing that someone so diversified would be in the running to take the reins of this project, but Wang allows it the grace it deserves. It isn’t as technically proficient as some of his other films, nor as flashy, yet it reflects competency.

As we patiently await for a cadre of decent films post-Oscar, families could do a lot worse than “Because of Winn-Dixie,” which delivers its message free of the scatological humor that most child-friendly stoop to these days.