The popular memoir by Pulitzer prize-winning author Willie Morris became this family comedy-drama about a boy and his dog. Young Willie Morris (Frankie Muniz) is a shy eight-year-old in 1942 Yazoo, MS, who is more comfortable reading than playing sports. A target for local bullies, Willie's only real pal is his older next-door neighbor Dink Jenkins (Luke Wilson), once the town's living sports legend and a big brother figure to Willie, an only child. When Dink is shipped overseas for service in World War II, Willie's mother Ellen (Diane Lane) finally forces his gruff father Jack (Kevin Bacon) to allow into the family a pet dog, a Jack Russell terrier named Skip. The smart and playful Skip gets his owner into a series of adventures on the baseball field and with a band of moonshiners, quickly turning Willie into a popular, accepted kid who even wins the affections of the school's prettiest girl, Rivers Applewhite (Caitlin Wachs). In the meantime, Dink returns from war branded a coward for an incident that occurred in combat but finds an unexpected ally in the normally taciturn Jack, a fellow veteran. Harry Connick Jr. narrated as the adult Willie; the role of Skip was played in later scenes by Moose, the pooch star of television's Frasier. Karl Williams, Rovi
- Genre: Kids and Family
- Category Childhood Drama, Period Film, Animal Picture, Americana
- Theme: Man's Best Friend, Small-Town Life, Life on the Homefront
- Studio: Warner Home Video
- Run Time: 01 hr 35 min
- Language: English, French
- Subtitle Language: English, French
- Picture Format: widescreen, pan_and_scan
- Format: DVD
- Release Date: July 11, 2006
- Lead Actor: Diane Lane, Luke Wilson, Kevin Bacon, Caitlin Wachs, Frankie Muniz
- Supporting Actor: Harry Hood, Brian Witt, Bill Butler, Graham Gordy, Stacie Doublin, Michael Berkshire, Mark Beech, Lucille Ewing, Katherine Shoulders, John M. Sullivan II, David Pickens, Jim Fraiser, Jerome Jerald, Courtney Brown, Winston Groom, Owen Boutwell, Jordan Williams, Nathaniel Lee, Polly Craig, James Thweat, Gordon Swaim, Wayne Wimberly, John Stiritz, Nate Bynum, Chaon Cross, Susan Carol Davis, Joann Blankenship, Cannon Smith, Hunter Hays, Stuart Greenwell, Josh Yates, Bradley Coryell, Cody Linley, Peter Crombie, Clint Howard, Harry Connick Jr., Enzo the Dog, Moose the Dog, Daylan Honeycutt, Elizabeth Rice
- Director: Jay Russell
