The list is long and goes back a great number of years: Freckles, Lady, Joe, Howard, Nathaniel, Chivas, Bert (Roberta), Doug, Sweetie, Gus and Rufus.
People who are unabashed dog lovers never forget their old pals. And if you’re an unabashed dog lover, a dog movie is going to get to you whether it’s a good movie or not.
From the 1957 classic “Old Yeller” to “Lady and the Tramp” – with possibly the best love scene ever committed to film, the “spaghetti scene”– to the recent “My Dog Skip,” movies about dogs can always find an audience.
Sometimes it may seem like a cheap Hollywood shot: “Yeah! A movie with a dog ... that’ll have ‘em in tears.”
But most great dog movies seem to have been made by dog lovers.
Director Wayne Wang made two of the most subtle and beautiful films of the 1990s – “The Joy Luck Club” and “Smoke.”
Now he has turned his attention to directing a “family” film and has taken on Kate DiCamillo’s popular novel, “Because of Winn-Dixie.”
It’s a beautiful story, and Wang and the crew he’s assembled all seem to be completely immersed in the project.
While the film falls short of the book, it still has its charm.
In many ways it’s too deep (and too long) to capture kids’ attention and a bit too simplistic to hold an adult audience.
That said, I will admit to having to wipe my eyes more than once. Despite its flaws, “Because of Winn-Dixie” is a sweet film.
AnnaSophia Robb – soon to be seen in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (Tim Burton’s remake of “Willie Wonka”) – plays Opal, the narrator and one of the story’s two central characters.
Young Robb is given the task of carrying a film featuring the likes of Jeff Daniels, Cicely Tyson and Eva Marie Saint, and she stands up pretty well with them.
But the real star is the dog, Winn-Dixie, as lovable a mutt as you’ve ever seen.
Opal – whose last name is Buloni (you can imagine the torment and grief that peers dish out with a name like that) – has recently moved to Florida with her father, an itinerant preacher played by Jeff Daniels. Preacher’s new gig is in a church that’s housed in what once was a convenience store. Anytime the door opens, the bell rings.
Opal and Preacher are without a mom or wife. The story hinges on the dark portent of why Mom left. And we know right off that Opal is lonely.
One day while at the Winn-Dixie grocery store (a chain that is a mainstay of the southern United States), Opal sees a dog running amok.
Rather than have him go to the pound, she tells the storekeepers the dog is hers. And then, he is.
The two become fast friends. Even though Opal’s dad and the manager of the trailer park (a story like this could not exist without a trailer park) say the dog has to go, that’s just not going to happen.
Winn-Dixie becomes Opal’s constant companion.
While trying to care for the dog’s needs, Opal realizes she is going to have to broaden her horizons.
And she does.
In a roundabout fashion, Opal gets a job sweeping up at a pet store run by Otis (Dave Matthews). She soon makes friends with Gloria (Cicely Tyson) whom the local kids say is a witch. She also befriends a librarian, Ms. Franny (Eva Marie Saint).
Franny opens a door Opal has needed to have unlocked, and I wish this aspect of the film would have been explored more deeply.
In essence, the plot amounts to a “coming of age” story, and Opal learns a lot of valuable information.
In the finale, she and Gloria throw big a party. One important person doesn’t show up, and when a thunderstorm strikes, one of her best friends (yes, it’s the dog) disappears. He has a pathological fear of thunderstorms.
I won’t give away the ending, but in truth I had a different one in mind. I think the story may have been better – but decidedly less “Hollywood”– than what we get in the film.
Despite the obvious flaws, dog people everywhere will enjoy “Because of Winn-Dixie.” A little guilty pleasure isn’t a bad thing, and believe me, the title character is as sweet as he can be.
Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.
