Starring Annasophia Robb, Jeff Daniels, Cicely Tyson, Dave Matthews, Eva Marie Saint
Written By: Joan Singleton
Directed By: Wayne Wang
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Buy on Amazon.com

I drink, I gamble, I graduated college with a 2.03 grade point average, & I work for a mortgage company. I don’t watch “She’s So Raven,” and I think Bratz dolls look like little whores. These are some of the reasons I’m sometimes a little stretched for conversation with my eight-year-old niece. It all seemed too perfect… Review a kid’s movie to give me something to talk about AND see Dave Matthews on the big screen. (Alright I’m a fan, shut up!) Is this the weirdest intro to a movie review? Maybe….

“Because of Winn-Dixie” is a heart-warming “tail” (Can’t claim credit for that joke, it was on the back of the DVD.) Anyway, this little girl (Annasophia Robb) can’t make friends in her hum-dee-dum Florida town, then she meets a friendly stray dog at a Winn-Dixie and names the dog….you guessed it, Winn-Dixie. Now if anyone’s wondering what a Winn-Dixie actually is, it’s a supermarket in the south that’s slowly getting beat into submission by Wal-Mart.

The acting in this is pretty solid; maybe I just went into this expecting the worst. I saw the first “Air Bud,” the Free Willy’s; I know a stupid animal movie when I see one. But this wasn’t too bad. Sure Jeff Daniels will always be Harry taking an uncontrollable dump in “Dumb & Dumber,” Dave Matthews will be that guy that plays a mean guitar but can’t speak English, & Cicely Tyson will always be the girl of my dreams. This was actually a kid’s movie I can watch.

As far as the extras go, didn’t even touch them. I felt I did my good deed for the day by watching a kid’s movie and agreeing to write a review on it. I had good intentions to watch them though but I just couldn’t do it. Jeff Daniel’s commentary? Pass. Gag reel? No. Behind the scenes? Nah. Dog-training featurette? Absolutely not.

In summary, if you have kids it’s a pretty good movie. It’s a quality compromise. Not the most “tug-at-the-heart-strings” dog movie I’ve ever seen (ahem, “My Dog Skip”), but I could sit through it. After I let my niece watch it, I gave her a call, eager to pick her brain….”It was good.” Dammit!! I’ll never control the topic!!

Features:
Commentary by Jeff Daniels and Producer Trevor Albert
Scene-Specific Commentary by AnnaSophia Robb
Gag Reel
Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
Diamond in the Ruff Dog Training Featurette

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Surround
FRENCH: Dolby Digital Surround

Video:
Widescreen 1.85:1 Color (Anamorphic)
Standard 1.33:1 Color

Subtitles:
English, Spanish

Favorite Scenes:
Rating: G
Running Time: 106 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: