Grade: B

Verdict: Lassie would approve. So will you.

By ELEANOR RINGEL GILLESPIE
Cox News Service

"Because of Winn-Dixie" arrives like manna from heaven in the midst of the Hollywood desert otherwise known as January and February.

Based on the Newberry Award-winning and immensely popular children's book of the same name, the picture centers on a lonely 10-year-old, Opal (AnnaSophia Robb), who's recently moved with her dad, a preacher (Jeff Daniels), to an un-Disneyfied dot of a town in central Florida named Naomi. The place is so poor, her father's church is actually a convenience store, the Pick-It-Quick. Latecomers generally stand by the frozen-food case. Unfortunately, the congregation as a whole is similarly chilly, as if the entire town has somehow lost heart.

That's about to change. Sent to the grocery store (hmmm, guess which one ...) for some white rice, macaroni and cheese, and two tomatoes, Opal comes home with a furry Heinz 57 she names after the store where she found him. (Actually, he's a purebred from France, a Picardy shepherd, but he has that friendly just-a-mutt look).

Thanks to Winn-Dixie's expert social skills (he's got a grin Davy Crockett would envy), Opal connects with a whole network of new friends who, in turn, connect with each other. There's the lonely elderly librarian (a still elegant Eva Marie Saint) who once introduced a bear to "War and Peace" by throwing it at his head; a near-blind recluse (a still-beautiful Cicely Tyson) wrongly branded a witch by the local kids; an ornery landlord (B. J. Hopper) who thinks dogs that howl should be shot; and an eccentric drifter (Dave Matthews — yes, that Dave Matthews — showing a real gift for acting) who sings to the assorted critters in the pet shop he manages.

"Because of Winn-Dixie" may sound like 101 other adorable-kid-and-her-magically-intuitive-dog movies. But it's more than that. For one thing, it's refreshingly free of the overadrenalized overkill and/or saccharine manipulations of so many kid movies.

For another, the director is Wayne Wang, who's better known for grown-up films like "The Joy Luck Club" and "Smoke." Wang connects with the book's simple, almost wistful style as well as its streak of magic realism a la "Big Fish."

The town factory, long ago shut down, once made Littmus Lozenges, candies that combine the sweet and the sad — though not everyone can taste the sorrow in them. Further, those who do have their own specific sadness. For Opal, it's the mother who left her when she was 3. For a puppy-crazy little girl (Elle Fanning, as good as her older sister, Dakota), the lozenge "tastes like not having a dog."

Young Robb was chosen over 650 other girls. She's a beautiful child, with the clear brow and forthright eyes of the young Jodie Foster. She's not quite an actress yet, but there's promise in her direct emotional connection with the other actors.

Her canine costar, Laiko (actually, there were several), snarfs up a sandwich with the commitment and relish of a four-legged Brando. And his moments of whimpered sympathy are pure poetry.