Author: Kate DiCamillo
Category: Children’s Book Produced as a Feature Film (Also a Newbery Honor book)
I’m beginning to sense a pattern here. I must be a sucker for sweet, sappy kiddie lit with precious little girls as the main characters. Just like in Everything on a Waffle & in The Higher Power of Lucky, Opal Buloni is a young girl with guardianship issues who sets out on a summer of adventure and discovery with the help of some very colorful characters. The movie began with familiar lines about Opal going to the grocery store to get macaroni & cheese, rice, and eggs. Even the “Pick-it-Quick” setting for the Open Arms church was straight out of the book. I was tickled to see how Sweetie Pie Thomas, Dunlap & Stevie Dewberry, and Amanda Wilkinson came alive! Sweetie Pie was there in pig-tails, sucking on her knuckle. The Dewberry brothers were sporting shiny, bald heads and were as mean as ever. And Amanda Wilkinson sat quietly with her face all “pinched-up” – just like Opal had described. As the movie began, I felt as though I was meeting people that a friend had already described to me. Most things were straight out of the book, and some things were added to fill up the movie and make it more interesting. It was clear in the book that Opal missed her old hometown of Watley. In the movie, Opal sat unpacking her things and looked longingly at a photo of her little league team from her old hometown – and said, “I bet they already have a pitcher.” The whole scene that sets the story played out on screen just like it was written in the book. Opal witnesses a stray dog running amuck in the middle of the grocery store and claims him for her own - dubbing him “Winn Dixie”. Even the manager of the store crying is consistent with the story. I found “the preacher” – Opal’s dad – to be a bit fussier in the movie than in the book. He put up quite a fight when Opal brought Winn Dixie home and only agreed to let him stay while Opal looked for him a permanent home. In the book – her father resisted only for a few breaths – and then conceded that the dog was a “less fortunate” if ever he’d seen one and agreed that he had found his home. The issue with trailer-park owner was also exaggerated in the movie. He allowed the preacher and Opal to stay in a trailer rent free, but he definitely wanted rid of the dog. He even threatened that they had a choice – a home or the dog. The preacher actually called the pound and Opal came racing out of the trailer crying and begging her dad not to take him away because he was her only friend. He let Opal keep Winn Dixie, but had to take out a loan from the church to pay back all their rent. He still had to promise to find a home for her dog by the end of summer. The book seemed to be all about Opal’s adventures “because of Winn Dixie”. But the movie emphasized more that it was a struggle for her to even keep him. It was interesting to see how the other characters in the book came alive. All of them seemed to have “added” personality traits – perhaps to make the movie a bit livelier. Otis was a bit creepier at first than I had envisioned after reading the book. When Gertrude the bird flew over to Winn Dixie & landed on his head, Otis said, “Well I’ll be damned.” I thought that was certainly unnecessary – especially in a children’s movie. Ms. Franny Block came to life just as she was described on the pages of the book; although, the Herman W. Block Memorial Library didn’t quite appear like the one I’d read about. The one in the movie seemed more like a funeral home or an old, historic house. The movie pretty well followed the story told in the book. Opal narrated it with select passages from the book. Otis charmed all the animals in Gertrude’s pet shop by playing his guitar. Sweetie Pie ran in sucking on her knuckle and took it out of her mouth long enough to call Otis a “magic man”. The scene in which Winn Dixie caught a mouse in church was very funny – although the mouse was more like the size of a rat. They set it free in a field. It was obvious that the preacher had a big heart, but he was just a bit more contrary on screen than on the pages of the book. Gloria Dump’s yard looked about like I had imagined – an overgrown jungle. Gloria came to life as a half-blind, wild-haired, black lady with a gigantic heart. Opal talked with Gloria Dump and shared with her the biggest secrets of her own heart – about how her mom had left. For me, one of the most touching parts of the book is the chapter in which Winn Dixie goes wild because he is afraid of the storm and Opal’s dad says that they have to watch him really carefully during storms and protect him so that he won’t run away. Fortunately this tender, sweet moment was played out just like in the book. The events in the book & the events in the movie did not follow the same order – some came earlier and some came later. One big difference between the book and the movie comes when Opal’s dad finally agrees to tell her 10 things about her mom: one for each year she’s been alive. In the book, the preacher names off ten things just as Opal requested: 1) She was funny, 2) She had fair hair & freckles, 3) She liked to plant things, 4) She could run fast, 5) She couldn’t cook, 6) She loved a story, 7) She knew all the constellations, 8) She hated being a preacher’s wife, 9) She drank, & 10) She loved you. In the movie, the preacher named off the first eight things, skipped number 9, and went on to number 10. He refused to give Opal a #10, just said that her mom packed up everything & left them – she didn’t leave a thing. He did not tell Opal that her mother drank beer, wine, whiskey….and sometimes couldn’t stop. That seemed like an important point, considering how she related to Gloria Dump through this fact, so I wondered if it would be included at all. Gloria took Opal to her backyard and showed her the mistake tree with all the old bottles. Opal asked questions and I wondered if she would say anything about her mother. ..but she didn’t. I really didn’t think that this part of the movie made sense. It’s inconsistency with the book just didn’t seem to fit at all. I think the fact that Opal’s mother drank was an important link to Gloria. It shows up later. The scene in which a police interrogates Opal about Otis is not in the book. In the book, Otis tells Opal about his jail time, not a snooping “Barney Fife” deputy. Ms. Franny told the story about Litmus – about him going off to war – and coming home to find that he was an orphan – and about him building a candy factory and creating the Litmus Lozenge. She tells the story to both Opal and Amanda - just like in the book. The secret ingredient in the candy is sadness. Opal thinks about how she misses her mother when she tastes the candy. Amanda says that she thinks about Carson and then she runs away. In the book, Opal finds out from her
father that Carson was Amanda’s five-year-old brother who drowned the year before. But, in the movie she finds out from Dunlap. Otis says that the candy tastes like music and reminds him of being in jail. He then reveals to Opal why he went to jail – for playing his guitar on the street, disturbing the peace, and assaulting a police officer. Sweetie Pie said the candy tasted like not having a dog. One strange little scene in the movie was nowhere to be found in the book. Some of the neighborhood kids and the Dewberry boys are playing baseball. Winn Dixie catches a fly ball in his mouth and then all the kids begin chasing him. The same goofball police officer that interrogated Opal about Otis stops by to break up the ruckus. Winn Dixie grabs his pants and chases him back into his car. He leaves – calling them all sea monkeys. It was a weird, bizarre, pointless scene. Opal gives her dad a piece of candy and he says it tastes melancholy and reminds him of her mother – just like in the book. However, Opal then asks her father, “Did mom drink?” And…perhaps that’s more realistic. Maybe a single father who just happened to be a preacher wouldn’t tell his ten-year-old daughter that her mother was an alcoholic. When confronted with the truth, the preacher initially says that Opal is just too young to know some things. I guess Opal just figured it out, although I’m not sure how….the preacher certainly didn’t allude to it. She pleads with him and says that she wants to understand. Her dad concedes that Opal is right – that’s what happened with her mom – she started drinking. She asks if that was the tenth thing – and her dad says that it was. Just like in the book, the movie ends with a party – inspired by Gone with the Wind. However, Gloria is much more resistant to the party than in the book – much more reclusive. She finally agrees though and Opal sets out giving invitations to everyone…even the grumpy old trail-park owner. Just like in the book, Otis shows up a little bit late, awkwardly carrying a jar of pickles. A summer storm breaks up the party and everyone moves inside. Otis takes this opportunity to give Opal the red, leather dog collar that she’s been working for in the pet shop. Just then thunder crashes and Opal remembers Winn Dixie’s fear of storms. She takes off looking for him in the storm. In the book, Opal searches for him with her dad…but in the movie, her dad didn’t come to the party and Opal searches by herself. He joins her in the search after she looks for him at their trailer. She is so adorable as she lists ten things she knows about Winn Dixie. When her dad is ready to give up looking, she accuses him of always giving up – even on her mom. It’s obvious his heart is broken too as he assures her that he tried and tried to make her stay. He tells her that he loves Winn Dixie too and he is sad the he is lost too. She asks if he thinks her mom will come back and he says that he doesn’t think she will. And then he tells her he was wrong when he said that Opal’s mom took everything with her when she left. He says that she left one very important thing – Opal – and that he thanks God that she left her. They return to Gloria’s house and the party, but they do not find that Winn Dixie has been hiding under the bed –like in the book. Opal leaves Winn Dixie’s new collar by the tree she planted in the yard. Everyone sits around singing in the living room as Otis plays the guitar. Suddenly a chorus of howling joins in. Winn Dixie has come home. And Opal says that her heart isn’t so empty any more – it’s full all the way up to the top with Gloria and Ms. Franny and Amanda and her Daddy and the Dewberry boys and Otis – and it’s all “Because of Winn Dixie.”
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