Annie (2014)

Who ever thought this was a great idea for a movie was so Wrong. Pass.

Annie has an infectious soundtrack that makes you want to sing every word. With a good soundtrack comes a good movie

I loved the original movie, so was a bit skeptical about seeing this one, especially as it had some negative reviews when it first came out in the cinemas.The movie was similar to the original, but modernised. Gone are the mansion, maids, down-trodden streets of New York, the dark lighting, the all-white cast… in it's place, we know what Will Stacks (the modernised version of Daddy Warbucks) does for a living, a girl who can look after herself and is looking for her identity (maybe that was also in the original, but I can't exactly remember), and a multi-racial cast. Halleluiah!I remember an episode of Boston Legal where a girl was auditioning for a stage production of Annie, but the producers denied her because she wasn't the typical, stereotype, racial white. Who cares?! This movie proves that Annie can be whatever nationality she wants to be, and it's great!What made the original movie great was Carol Burnette's Hannigan, who was a nasty piece of work who only cared about herself and really put those poor girls to work – I really felt sorry for those poor foster children! While Cameron Diaz doesn't have quite the same punch as Burnette, she pulled this role off in her own right, over the top as it was.The music was great, and I didn't notice, until I read some reviews that some of it was original pieces, which was great and spruced up the movie a lot more!Would I see it again? Sure.

There are many theories and tacts when it comes to remaking a popular film. Perhaps more important than the approach/tone taken, however, is that the director knows what he/she is doing and sticks to it. Fortunately, Will Gluck does exactly that in "Annie".For a basic plot summary, this movie tells the story of foster kid Annie (Quvenzhane Wallis), who lives with a number of other young girls under the "care" of Ms. Hannigan (Cameron Diaz). Every Friday night, Annie sits outside the restaurant where her parents abandoned her as a child, hoping that they will return and claim her. One day, Annie is snatched from calamity (an oncoming car) by Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx), a cell phone mogul running for political office. Stack's advisers suggest that more publicity with Annie cannot be a bad thing, so he takes her under his care, primarily by his personal assistant Grace (Rose Byrne). Over time, however, Stacks develops more of a relationship with the young girl...until a potentially life-changing event shakes things up once again.This remake of the "Annie" film works because it updates the story for a new generation without screwing around with "the basics" all that much. It really keeps the optimistic, upbeat message of the story intact but just in a more modern context. I liken it to what happened with the recent "Carrie" remake. Two completely different film genres, obviously, but both succeeded in taking a great story, tweaking it just a bit, and making it so that they don't seem so "old". Children of today, I think, would have a difficult time relating to the 1982 version. Not so here in this 2014 re- interpretation.While the basic pieces of the story remain intact, that isn't to say that there aren't significant changes in the storytelling format. A few completely new songs are added, while some are changed just a bit (mostly to more hip-hop, upbeat renditions, which I very much enjoyed). These changes are hit-and-miss, for the most part, but I have to give credit to the film-makers for taking some chances and not just skating by on the same old scenes from 1982. I enjoyed the mix-up.In terms of acting, young Wallis might be even better than Aileen Quinn...quite a feat! Nobody can top Carol Burnett's turn as Ms. Hannigan, and here Diaz doesn't even try to go to those depths. She is decent, but not spectacular by any means. Also tough to live up to is Albert Finney's "Daddy Warbucks". The written character of Will Stacks is just as good, but Foxx doesn't quite give it the gusto as Finney.I also really liked how I could tell the film producers really cared for the Annie story in the way they crafted the film. It has a nice little give-and-take with the original, so to speak. A live band playing in a restaurant is called the "Leaping Lizards", while when Wallis steps out in a shiny red dress it is quite a moment. This film team treated their subject with care, to be sure.Finally, about the only real negatives about this movie were that it was a bit too long and it didn't quite establish the "niche" of the original, which was all about Great Depression themes. I wished this one could have focused a bit more on issues of today and relating them to Annie's story. As it were, though, "Annie 2014" is actually marketed more towards children than even that original! Nothing terribly deep.