Putting dysfunctional families onscreen is nothing new to the Hollywood movie-making industry. Countless numbers of them are made each year, and they seem to come in as fast as they go, hardly ever leaving a mark or getting a chance to really stick out in the big scheme of things once the film is over. “Little Miss Sunshine” is able to take the same group of characters that seems to be in every dysfunctional family movie, and puts a spin on them, creating a breath of fresh air that is just as enjoyable and entertaining as it is captivating and believable.

Abigail Breslin, whose only previous role was as Mel Gibson’s daughter in “Signs,” plays Olive Hoover in her Oscar-nominated role. Despite the fact that she is only 10 years old, she exudes greatness, maturity and is able to capture attention just as much as her fellow actors.

Olive, an average little girl with an above average dream of being a beauty pageant queen, is finally given the opportunity once she qualifies to compete in the fictional Little Miss Sunshine Competition that is held annually in Redondo Beach, Calif. The major problem of this startling development is that Olive’s family resides in Albuquerque, N.M. and is for the most part flat broke. To make matters worse, the family of six can hardly go a second without tearing each other’s throats out, something Olive is oblivious to.

The characters that are created in the film essentially would be nothing without the actors who portray them. Trying to picture other actors in their places is difficult to imagine because of the way each one takes on the weight of their character. Each actor is able to add their own unique quality to their character in order to have them leave an impression.

Besides Breslin, Alan Arkin, who plays the foul-mouthed, drug-using grandfather in the family, was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. He supplies most of the film’s comic relief for the scenes he is in, and it is no wonder that he was nominated. What is a wonder is how Steve Carell, who plays Olive’s suicidal homosexual uncle, was not nominated. Out of all the actors, Carell is the one who has to stretch the most as an actor in order to accomplish what is required from his character.

Toni Collete plays the mother of the family and proves she has a knack for playing deranged mothers (remember “The Sixth Sense”). Her husband is played by Greg Kinnear, who shows his knack for perfectly portraying antagonists. Last but certainly not least, the cast is rounded out by Paul Dano, who portrays Olive’s brother Dwayne. Dwayne has taken an oath of silence until he gets into the Air Force so that he can get away from the family.

Once the family gets on the road and is enclosed in the close quarters of a memorable Volkswagen Bus, everything that follows seems to flow effortlessly. The movie delivers memorably ironic punch line after punch line while still holding true to its main point of developing its characters. With the car as the movie’s main setting, it allows the audience to feel as though they are riding right along with the characters and are experiencing what they are experiencing.

There is no better evidence of this than in the scene where you can clearly see, just by looking at the eyes of Breslin, that her character realizes she is no match for the beauty queens she is up against. However, we can detect that she is still innocent enough to believe her routine isn’t the least bit outrageous.

When that type of bond is formed between a movie’s characters its audience, it undoubtedly has done what it set out to do, which is exactly what “Little Miss Sunshine” accomplishes.

By the time the film’s conclusion is in sight, it is expected that it will do something generic and unoriginal because, up until that point, everything that the film was new and refreshing. Despite the fact that the odds are greater for the film to screw up in the end than at the beginning, it holds strong throughout the entire film and, thanks to its Oscar-nominated script written by Michael Arndt, it ultimately concludes in an original way that is satisfying for those watching.