Annie

It is unfortunate so much money (65 million) and so much talent (Quvenzhane Wallis, Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz) did not equal a better movie. A musical should have great singers; this did not. Foxx, the orphans and Quvenzhane were fine, but they were not great. Consider Dreamgirls, Hairspray, Fiddler on the Roof and Oklahoma. Along with the actors singing in character, there were powerful voices. No one in Annie was a standout musically.

Rose Byrne did her job in Damages, but not so much in this movie. The remainder of the cast was competent; they had their occasional moments.

This rendition of Annie was okay. But, with a few cast changes and voice lessons, it could have been so much better.

Annie is an age old story of an orphan struggling to survive and is magically swept off her feet by a reluctant grouch who suddenly gets a warm heart and yadda yadda yadda. Yes, an updated version of Annie sounded awesome and yes, some of us had hope for it. And HELL NO is this what Annie should have become. This is perhaps one of the most ridiculous, over produced, annoyingly unoriginal remakes in recent years. With a cast like this film, starring Jamie Foxx, Quvenzhane Wallis, Cameron Diaz and Rose Byrne, this should have been a very competent film but it is so bogged down with a ridiculous hip-hop shroud of the musical numbers and poorly executed dance numbers that it is hard to take this seriously. The biggest culprit is Will Gluck, the man directs this with absolutely no flavor. It isn't hard to make the story of Annie heart warming, not in the very least. It is one of the best told stories along with being one of the best musicals of all time. Even if you were asleep at the wheel for most of the production, you could still get something out of it. Gluck fails to do pretty much everything when it comes to direction. It is lazy and unoriginal. To be frank, the only reason why I'm giving this a 3 instead of a 10 is Wallis' performance. She was truly awesome as Annie and it is a shame that the film wasn't even a fraction as good as her performance. Overall, this is a film that will more than likely have you pounding your fist against your head for the entire duration of the film...oh yeah, it is THAT bad.

Regarding the other versions of the classic Broadway hit, the 1982 film was one of my favourite films as a child and is still a personal favourite today while the 1999 film is also good and entertaining if a little short and sugary sweet in places. Annie(2014) certainly should be judged on its own merits and without any comparison as well as with an open mind. Seeing it without any prejudice, I do not think it is quite as bad as people has said but as an updating of the story and as a standalone it didn't work.

There are some good things here. The best thing about it is Quvenzhané Wallis as Annie, her singing is not brilliant but the energy, enthusiasm and feeling she gives to it is. She's consistently winning in the role and performs with much confidence and charisma with twinkling eyes and a bright smile, all this without falling into saccharine camp. Jamie Foxx has the best singing voice of the whole cast and is a likable Will Stacks, playing him with real authority and charm, coming across as appropriately over-serious to someone more relaxed later on. Sandy is also adorable and almost on par with the dog in the 1982 film, and I was charmed by the chemistry between Annie and Grace.

Unfortunately that's it for the things that work. The girls playing the other foster kids try their best but they do come over as over-eager and they don't have much to do, not to do with screen-time but with how they're directed(the only place they shine in some way is Hard Knock Life). Rose Byrne is a mixed bag, she is appropriately kindly and shares a charming chemistry with Wallis but she has very little to do really. Bobby Cannavale underplays the villain role so much that the performance comes across as one-note while Cameron Diaz is rather painful to watch as Miss Hannigan(and this is without any comparison). She's a talented actress but plays the character far too broadly, so over-the-top campy and obnoxiously strident that it makes the rest of the toned-down performances dull in comparison. Regarding the singing, the only one who impresses is Foxx, the rest of the adults can barely carry a tune and the singing in general sounds auto-tuned and in an all-too-obvious way(Easy Street is especially bad in this instance), "auto-tuned disaster" sums it up very aptly. The lip-synching is incredibly amateurish too with the performers' mouths moving at a different tine to the music.

The songs in the Broadway stage show and the 1982 and 1999 films are marvellous, ones with very catchy melodies that are easily hummable and lyrics that you can recite without problem very quickly. The songs that are included here are arranged in a way to make them more "current" but instead they are stripped of their heart and meaning due to the many things added to and taken away from them, some of them changed to the extent they're barely recognisable(like one or two signature lines a song being maintained but the melodies being completely swamped by polyrhythmic harmonies and sounds and even vastly inferior changes in lyrics). Tomorrow just about gets by but Hard Knock Life irritates and Easy Street is completely butchered. And then we have the added ones done especially for this film and while they're "current" they're forgettable at best and largely uninspired in style and writing with lyrics so inane it's enough to make one cringe. For anybody yet to see the film they'd think that there'd be a jarring difference in quality with the original songs and the added ones but you know something is horribly wrong when the originals are changed so much that they're actually on the same level in quality to the added ones, that's how much they've been cheapened by the arrangements. The choreography is both sloppy and chaotic, flailing arms being the most memorable and frequent movement of the lot, and apart from Foxx and to a lesser extent Wallis nobody looks natural dancing it. For example I Think I'm Gonna Like it Here looked like it was completely made up on the spot.

The equally chaotic and music-video-like production values don't help, most of the musical numbers especially Easy Street were very haphazardly edited, and neither does Will Gluck's leaden direction that has inexperience stamped all over it. The script is weak, with crass humour, cloying cutesiness and the once memorable and engaging characters reduced to bland clichés. The film does try hard to make the famous story relevant by today's standards, but by doing that the heart of the original story is lost and Annie's positivity amidst a harsh world doesn't resonate, which is really what the story and Annie's character is all about. Annie and Stacks's relationship never really grows, despite Foxx's best efforts if there was meant to be a character change for Stacks it wasn't believable while Miss Hannigan's back story suffered from some really clumsy and badly placed writing. The message is more cynical in alternative to heart-warming, handling the benefits of materialism idea very heavy-handedly, while the climatic helicopter chase is just ludicrous, completely devoid of tension and completely out of place compared to the rest of the film.

Overall, Annie(2014) is not THAT terrible but while it tries hard the execution for this viewer was awkward and sloppy. 4/10 Bethany Cox

'ANNIE': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Modern-day adaptation of the 1977 Broadway musical (of the same name), which was based on the 1924 comic strip 'Little Orphan Annie'. It stars Quvenzhane Wallis (of 'BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD' fame), as Annie, and Jamie Foxx, as billionaire Will Stacks (an update on the Daddy Warbucks character, from the comic and musical). It costars Rose Byrne, Cameron Diaz, Bobby Cannavale, David Zayas and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. It was directed by Will Gluck (who also directed 'EASY A' and 'FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS') and written by Gluck and Aline Brosh McKenna. I don't think it's nearly as enjoyable as the 1982 film version (which I grew up on) but the music is still good (and there's three new songs).

The story, once again, centers on a ten-year-old orphan named Annie (Wallis). She lives at the home of a mean alcoholic, named Colleen Hannigan (Diaz), with four other foster children. Colleen is very abusive to the kids, constantly making them clean her apartment, and only takes care of them so she can collect money from the state. Annie dreams of being reunited with her parents, who promised they'd come back for her (long ago). She runs into New York City mayoral candidate Will Stacks (Foxx), while running home one day, and falls to the ground in the streets. Stacks saves her from being hit, by a truck, and the incident is caught on video. The video then goes viral and Stacks sees it as an excellent opportunity to save his failing campaign. An odd relationship develops between the two.

The film is filled with corny jokes, and bad acting, and it's even more cheesy than the 1982 movie (which I still love, for nostalgic reasons). The music is great, still though (especially my favorite: 'It's the Hard Knock Life'), and the movie does have a positive and upbeat message for kids (like it's source material). It's other saving grace is Quvenzhane Wallis, who has some really powerful scenes (towards the end of the film). She could have delivered another award worthy performance, if her part had been written a little better (she is nominated for a Golden Globe though, but doesn't quite deserve it). For those reasons the movie isn't horrible but the 1982 version is much better.

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... and always form my own opinion. I took my 6 year old niece to see this movie today, and it was a perfect "feel-good" family holiday film. The original Annie came out in June of 1982 when I myself was 6, and I remember how much I loved the story and the singing, watching it (and singing along!) quite a few times in my childhood. Well, we sat down together last night to watch the original, and we BOTH had a hard time staying engaged throughout the whole thing. FDR and the New Deal? War bonds? Because the 1982 plot was set in the period of the comic's popularity, not the actual filming date of the movie, there were a lot of references that never did make sense to me growing up. The new movie, set in modern New York City, was relatable for today's kids (criticize all you want, but there are NOT ENOUGH positive non-Disney human characters out there, no matter how much people call it pandering). The script had its share of small flaws, and no one can ever outdo Burnett and Finney, but Wallis was adorable and very likable in the lead role... her personality was believable and not over the top, and oh yeah, she's black, though I don't think my niece noticed.