Dana Anderson

I recently read the book and was enthralled by this story. I personally think it's DiCamillo's best work. The movie played faithfully to the book's message and heart while also managing to activate the characters and storyline in a cinematically necessary way. The scripting was very funny and organic, Matilda Lawler is the best child actor I have seen in years, and the addition of Danny Pudi as Animal Control was very enjoyable. I do wish that they had fleshed out the contentious relationship more between Flora and her mom, which is more central to the conflict in the book. The movie did seem to lose its focus in the last half hour. And I missed Anna Deveare Smith throughout. It looked like they had cut a lot of her scenes, which is sad. But all in all, this was a worthwhile and lovely watch.