Because of Winn-Dixie

Title: Because of Winn-Dixie

Author: Kate DiCamillo

Book to Movie Comparison

After reading Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie, I truly fell in love with the story. I thought to myself, I’m not sure how a movie adaptation of the book could even come close to how amazing this book is. However, upon watching the movie I was pleasantly surprised at how well the producers were able to stick to the original story line. That being said, I believe the few changes that were made to the story only helped to enhance the theatrical version making the movie more dramatic and interesting to watch. It seems rare to find a book and the movie adaptation of that book to both be worthwhile and, for that, I greatly applaud the producers of the movie.

There were many ways in which Because of Winn-Dixie the book and Because of Winn-Dixie the movie were the same. For example, all of the main characters with the exception of one were portrayed in the movie in the exact sense that they were portrayed in the book right down to their looks and how they were described in the text. Moreover, all of the monumental scenes these main characters were involved in were included in the movie just as they were described in the book. Some of these included Otis singing to the animals, Gloria Dump and her alcohol bottle “ghosts” hanging in the tree, Winn-Dixie catching the mouse in church, etc. As I previously stated, the movie truly did follow the original story line quite well.

Despite the fact that the movie and book version of Because of Winn-Dixie were quite similar, there were some important differences I noticed in the film. Right off the bat, it became clear to me that Winn-Dixie smiled in the movie instead of sneezing all the time like he did in the book. This was probably the only change that I really didn’t like because in a sense it took away from the nature of Winn-Dixie’s character that was presented in the novel. Another important difference was Winn-Dixie was almost taken by the pound in the middle of the movie – this never occurred in the book. Winn-Dixie also never ran away nor was he hated by the trailer park manager, Alfred, who was one of the added characters to the movie along with the goofy representation of the town police man. All in all, however, any of the small changes made to the movie only enhanced its dramatic affect and didn’t take away from the main story line. As I said before, the only difference I didn’t like was Winn-Dixie’s smiling instead of sneezing.

One thing I think the movie really succeeded in was its casting selections. The majority of the characters were portrayed in the movie in the exact same way they were portrayed in the book. They even looked how I had imagined them while reading, which is something that doesn’t happen often for me. My only critique is that I was under the impression that Opal’s father was an older man. He appeared to be quite young in the movie adaptation, and I imagined him as a graying man that was kind of skinny and feeble. However, this was only my interpretation of the character and as far as the acting goes, the actor did a terrific job capturing the essence of Opal’s father.

Between the movie and the book I, of course, enjoyed the book better. Very rarely, and I mean rarely, do I ever enjoy the movie better than I do the book. It’s not that the movie wasn’t good because it was; it’s just that I like how when I’m reading the book anything goes. I can picture anything however I want, imagine people how I want them, etc. It becomes an exciting adventure I can take myself on. With the movie, everything is set in stone. The people look like this, the town looks like this, nothing is left up to the imagination. There’s just something about a book that will always be more exciting to me than a movie.

In the end, I gave the movie a thumbs-up because I enjoyed it! The story is so sweet, and I don’t know how anyone could not enjoy it. Stories about dogs always get to me, and this was no exception. More specifically, I liked how the characters were portrayed, and I was able to fall in love with them just as I did in the book. The little girl who played Opal did a terrific job as did the other actors with their characters. I also liked it because it followed the story line of the book fairly accurately, and since I loved the book so much this of course meant I loved the movie. The one thing I can say both about the book and the movie is that it was a genuine story about friendship and, for that, I think it has the ability to touch and inspire anyone.