Because of Winn-Dixie (Book vs. Movie #1)

 

        








One task for this class is to read a book, watch the movie made about that book, and compare the two.  The first book I chose was Because of Winn-Dixie.  The book was written by Kate DiCamillo in 2000 and was awarded a Newbery Honor in 2001; the book was then made into a movie in 2005.  The story is about a young girl, Opal, who moves to Naomi, Florida with her father when he gets a new preaching job there.  Opal was abandoned her mother when she was three and her father spends more time with her preaching than with her.  Opal doesn't have any friends in her new town until she meets a stray dog that she adopts and names Winn-Dixie. That summer Opal and Winn-Dixie make friends with an eclectic group of people in town.  Winn-Dixie also brings Opal and her father closer together.  Through her new friends Opal learns about friendship, acceptance, and that we all have a little loneliness in our lives.

Because of Winn-Dixie was the most accurate movie based off of a book that I have ever seen.  There were a few minor details that were tweaked a little bit but for the most part the storyline, characters, and even the quotes were the same.  The movie adds a landlord and a sheriff that were not part of the original book but they have minor roles in the movie and didn't change much of the plot.  The biggest difference I noticed was that I thought the movie portrayed Opal's daddy as much more harsh and distant than the book did.  For example, when Opal first brought Winn-Dixie home in the book her dad protested a little bit but was quickly won over.  In the movie, her dad is much more stern and yells at her that she has to get rid of the dog.  Also, in at the end of the story Opal has a party for her new friends.  In the book her dad comes and is able to help her look for Winn-Dixie when he goes missing but in the movie her dad never shows up to the party and she has to go hunt him down to get him to help her.  In the book her dad was a single parent who was trying his best to be a good father but didn't really know how to relate to Opal; I wish the movie had done a better job of expressing that rather than making him seem like an unloving person.  Other than that, the movie was almost exactly like the book - so unusual!  I would definitely recommend both the book and movie.