Annie (2014)

This film is not recommended.

Annie, Will Gluck's musical film, and I am using that term loosely, is wrong-headed in concept and execution. After two vain attempts to film the successful Broadway hit, this latest version sucks all the life and last glimmers of hope that was so evident in the original production. Updated to present-day NYC, this new updated version Whereas, the Broadway musical had buckets of charm, a great score sung by talented performers that stressed comedy, and a book that clung to the nostalgic memories of the twenties, this debacle has anti-charm, alters the score with synthesized percussion and bombastic orchestrations, distorts songs so poorly crooned by non-singers (with the sole exception of Mr. Foxx who has some vocal talents and rhythm), and a dumbed-down script that resorts to food-spitting as high comedy (at least three times). It's just awful.

The screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna and the director never finds the right footing. In this Annie, our plucky heroine is not an orphan, but a foster child in search of her parents. She is still living with the self-absorbed Miss Hannigan, now a wash-up singer from the 90's pop group, C +C Music Factory. Daddy Warbucks becomes Will Stacks, a germaphobic businessman running for mayor. They meet and Annie becomes his photo opportunity until his heart is melted by this young ragamuffin. The film uses the original source as an outline, losing all the clever repartee and creating new dialog that is contemporary sounding for all the worse reasons. (Example: When looking for the dog, Sandy, to adopt, Stacks says to Annie: "Don't pick that one! It's licking its own who-ha." Moments of this sophistication just can't express my total displeasure with this film adaptation.)

Gluck's heavy-handed direction is everywhere. No one can escape it. The director can't stage a scene with any musical flair. The dancing is sloppy, the singing merely adequate, and the acting settles into non-stop mugging. The wondrous score from Charlie Strouse and Martin Charnin is as diluted as the filmmakers. Many of the musical numbers are throwaway moments and never build to anything resembling entertainment. (Only one song, It's a Hard- Knock Life, at least, has some energy and fun.)

Quvenzhané Wallis plays the title role and she does look cute enough to play Annie, but she has a limited vocal range and comes off as saccharine and insincere. The aforementioned Mr. Foxx has some style, but is given little to do except look grumpy and bothered until he transforms, due to his love for the little tyke, into a lovesick sap. As Stack's helpful crew, Rose Bryne is wasted and Bobby Cannavale is an embarrassment of riches. Coming off worse of all is Cameron Diaz playing Miss Hannigan. It would be unfair to compare her performance to the legendary Dorothy Loudon. Let's just say Ms. Diaz is just loud and leave it at that. (That she plays this beloved villain as cruel and seriously hateful only shows her misinterpretation of the role and serious miscasting of the part of Mr. Gluck.) Sadly, this film is one-stop- shopping to find these actors' worst performance in their careers.

The film has the New York vibe, but it seems to be in its own alternate universe, gritty but not too gritty, real, but not too real. The production design by Marcia Hinds is dreadful (Stacks' penthouse looks like a modern architecture horror inspired by George Jetson.), the costumes by Renee Ehrlich Kalfus are unflattering and d

Fmovies: I don't know why some people don't like this movie! I don't think this movie is cheesy at all. I absolutely loved it! I love the modern take on it. I love the actors and actresses and all of the songs. I have watched it several times now. I love how Quvenzhané Wallis gives off the "okay, I don't care" act when things rise up against her character (Annie) in the movie. But as she walks away, you can see her true emotion of hurt or sadness show through. I think that shows what a good actress she is growing up to be. I love the modern take on the original songs as well as the new songs added. I think this is a very well made movie. I wish it had better reviews than it has been getting.

The only reason I saw this absolute horror show was because I was paid to. I'd have rather gotten it from a torrent site, but I couldn't find a seeder. Jamie Foxx and the liberal left Hollywood have ruined another perfectly good movie because they're too stupid to come up with something original. But this is the trend, isn't it?

Shove a political message down our throat.

Shove these horrible remakes down our throat with politically correct casts and actors.

From what I understand, the girl that played Annie was an absolute spoiled brat.

Yeah ... she'll go far in that town. The bad ones always do.

If anyone needs me, I'll be bleaching my eyes.

Annie fmovies. 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.

I'm a huge fan of Annie and was excited to hear of the remake. I went to see it with my mom, sister and nieces ages 7 and 11. Unfortunately, there is a bothersome scene in the beginning. You see a girl standing in front of a classroom who looks like original Annie (cute, red curly hair and dress). Her name is even Annie. She's reading an essay in a "goodie two-shoes" way. Her classmates are rolling their eyes in annoyance. She ends with a weird tap dance then sits down. You get the impression that the class doesn't like her. Then the teacher calls up Annie #2, the star of the movie. This Annie is African American. She's adorable and super cool. She doesn't read a prepared essay but instead gets the class to participate in a fun song. You definitely get the impression that the class really likes her.

Subtle reverse-racism is at play here. It's a dig on white people being uncool. It's perpetuated in plenty of black comic acts. We are supposed to be promoting acceptance! Shame on them.

I thought this film was so rubbish and of course it's not going to be like the original Annie I understand that but it was so boring I couldn't wait to leave the cinema. There wasn't much of a proper story line to the film. It just looked like a budget, quick skim through of the original. The songs were song after one another but there was no real story line in between. I seriously wouldn't recommend wasting your money to watch this film it's not worth it. I love the film Annie and this one was a shambles. Maybe little children might enjoy it but it just dragged on. The acting was quite poor as well. It all looked very staged.