In this comparison, I actually read the book before I watched the movie. The book, by Kate Dicamillo, is an enchanting tale of a young girl and her ugly dog, and the wonderful friends she meets along the way when trying to get used to living in a new town. The way India Opal interacts with some of the townspeople is very loving and innocent, and gave her a naivete that was very endearing. I literally did not want to put the book down! I read it in one day, so I was really excited to see the movie.
Unfortunately, as Hollywood is wont to do, the movie did not have near as much charm as the book. There were a lot of scenes in the book that had been left out of the movie. For instance, Jeff Daniels (who plays India Opal's father in the movie) was talking to her about her mother. In the book, he told her exaclty ten things about her mom, including that her mother liked to drink. This is not how it went in the book, and Ithought that was a key element to the plot line. It explained a lot about why her mother left, and although hinted to in the movie, it was never really said. I thought the actess that played India Opal in the movie over-acted the part. They would have done better to cast Dakota Fanning's little sister (who played Sweetie Pie in the movie) as India Opal. They also skipped parts of the book around so that they were not necessarily in the order as the book.
All in all, I liked the book much better than the movie on this one.
Sources:
www.barnesandnoble.com. Images retrieved 3-29-08.
DiCamillo, K. (2000). Because of Winn-Dixie. Cambridge: Candlewick Press.
Wayne, W. (Director). (2005). Because of Winn-Dixie [Motion Picture]. United States: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation.
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