A.C.’s Review: December
is one of those times of year that the movie studios roll out what are
described as “feel good” movies where you can watch the tale and go away
with a positive and upbeat attitude. One of those movies being released
this holidays season by the hack plagued SONY pictures is ANNIE and it
delivers on its feel good promise.
ANNIE
of course is the Broadway musical as well as 1982 movie featuring the
rags to riches tale of an orphan who captivates the heart of a wealthy
industrialist.
As one of the tunes from the musical go they discover “I don’t need
anything but you!”. Along with his loyal aid Grace and dog Sandy they
form an unlikely but seamless family.
The
remake reimagines the story from FDR depression era New York to late
2014 Manhattan complete with many shots of the Freedom Tower (aka the
New World
Trade Center) in the background…kind of subliminal message of hope and
renewal that permeates the movie.
Jamie
Foxx takes the “Daddy Warbucks” role rechristened her as a man named
Stacks who runs a cell phone conglomerate that puts AT &T and Sprint
to shame.
His right hand woman is Grace (Rose Byrne not having to hide her aussie
accent for once and the new Annie is played by rising young talent 10
year old Quvenzhané Wallis. Also on hand is Cameron Diaz playing the
wicked/drunken foster home manager Ms. Hannigan.
The
movie pretty much follows the outline of the previous incarnations
right down to Ms. Hannigan and Stack’s right campaign manager (Stacks is
running
for Mayor of NYC) plotting to hire actors to portray Annie’s long lost
parents to get her out of the way. In a nice redemptive arc Hannigan
changes her mind before Stack’s loses Annie forever and a helicopter
chase across the city caps off the movie.
This
movie was an absolute pleasure. I liked all the characters and it had a
great supporting cast such as Annie’s fellow foster sisters and a
kleptomaniac
social worker Annie must deal with. The story was familiar but that
didn’t detract from my enjoyment of this incarnation. Capping it all off
was it actually was the first time that I actually enjoyed a Cameron
Diaz performance. She stole every scene she was
in.
The
only points I would take off is in regards to the music. It was nice to
have the familiar show tunes from the musical turn up (though tweaked a
bit
to update them for the modern era) however a few of the best ones were
completely left out and they were missed but in some cases it was
understandable as they were tied to closely to life in the depression.
And while Wallis was an excellent actress her singing
could not match Andrea McCardles from the Broadway musical soundtrack
of the late 1970’s.
One
final note is that I spend a lot of time on movie message boards as a
movie fan and it sad to see the amount of discriminatory comments on the message boards for ANNIE because people had an issue with “Black Annie” instead of the
traditional redhead freckled face version. What these room temperature
IQ’s don’t realize when the original Annie was written minorities were
an afterthought in servant roles at best and
never as the leads. If it were written today its conceivable to have
been written for a multi ethnic cast as in the movie.
Best Scene: Just about any scene with Ms. Hannigan versus her foster kids.
A.C.’s Rating: Full Price Admission
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