ANNIE review by Mark Walters – a modern day remake of a classic character tries really hard

ANNIE review by Mark Walters – a modern day remake of a classic character tries really hard
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The opening of the new ANNIE takes place in a classroom filled with kids, and we see an adorable red-headed girl addressing the students and tap dancing for a minute. The teacher says “Thank you Annie”, then tells her to sit down, and calls up another much different-looking girl named Annie (Quvenzhané Wallis). It’s obviously meant to be a little joke on the audience, as if to say “Here’s what you’re used to, and here’s what we’re giving you now.” Most of this new ANNIE follows in the footsteps of the 1982 theatrical version, but puts a modern day spin on things. Annie lives in a foster home with other girls, who all wish they had normal parents. Their guardian Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz) is a boozed up former backup singer for C&C Music Factory – you all remember the song “Everybody Dance Now”? Daddy Warbucks is now Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx), a wealthy cel phone mogul with political aspirations but a struggling public image. Stacks has an adviser named Guy (Bobby Cannavale) with his own agenda, and a loyal assistant named Grace (Rose Byrne) who cares dearly for him beyond just being an employee.

One day Stacks saves Annie from almost being hit by a car, an act that ends up grabbing public attention. It’s decided that Annie should spend time with Stacks to improve his image, and the two even end up living together. This unity makes Annie a public celebrity, who gains adoring fans and huge following (Guy even starts up a Twitter page for her, and overnight she gains millions of followers). While Will is initially hesitant to have this little girl take up his personal space, they eventually form a bond. Things go sour though when Guy and Hannigan hatch a plan to “find” Annie’s real parents, now that she’s a media superstar, and it could be the ultimate act to help Stacks become Mayor… only now does Will realize what’s really most important to him.

There are certain changes in this version of ANNIE outside of the obvious skin color controversy. The character of Miss Hannigan is one of the most obvious alterations, and some of her story points are almost telegraphed from the first time we see Cameron Diaz on screen. It is safe to say this is one of the better performances as of late for the actress. Jamie Foxx makes his spin on Daddy Warbucks a much more humanized character, and isn’t afraid to belt out several songs. Quvenzhané Wallis is an inspired choice for Annie, still fresh in memory from her breakout role in BEAST OF THE SOUTHERN WILD. While she appears enthusiastic with her portrayal here, there’s a certain layer present that feels like she’s trying really hard to make the material work. In fact, the entire film feels like it’s working overtime to sell the proceedings to its audience. Parts of it (mostly in the third act) work really well, but it gets off to rocky start, and it’s not the most cohesive production. It’s also feels about 20 minutes too long, clocking in just under two hours… to be fair, the 1982 ANNIE had the same problem, and was actually OVER two hours. There’s a few added characters here too that probably aren’t essential and just make the script more complicated.

There are several songs throughout the film, most that are familiar but changed just enough to fit the style of this take. They’re not bad, but again, at times feel like they’re trying really hard to be fun instead of just coming across as fun. To touch upon the aforementioned race issues, changing Annie and the Daddy Warbucks character into being black doesn’t really hurt the story, which could likely work for any race. The only problem I have with it is that it feels like a gimmick, like a clever studio concept more than a necessary change. Sony Pictures probably could have avoided a lot of the backlash if they had just used the basic story concept and called it something else. Most of the complaints seem to be that the character of Annie has always been depicted as a red-headed white girl, so why make her black? The only logical answer is that it is a gimmick, so while I don’t agree with most of the controversial comments, I understand why they’re being made. That said, for every HONEYMOONERS reboot using a black cast that fails, there’s a KARATE KID with Jaden Smith that makes tons of cash, so gimmicks like this can sometimes pay off… here it doesn’t really help much.

ANNIE isn’t a terrible production, but with all the hype and divisiveness that led up to it, it’s just not that great. Even as a family film there’s questionable aspects, like Hannigan being such a sexed-up drunk, or everyone loving Annie because she becomes a celebrity and is associated with a big name public figure – this concept almost feels like Kim Khardashian territory, the idea of her being liked so much because she’s famous and all over the media, which is certainly not the best message for young girls. There are moments of funny social commentary, like a hilarious TWILIGHT-esque movie premiere that mocks the silliness of Hollywood’s lamest film choices, but as ANNIE wraps up the story in its final minutes it almost feels like one of those parody movies within a movie. I would dare to say this remake has no chance of becoming a beloved classic, but the 1982 version actually opened to bad reviews and poor box office… so ya never know.

ANNIE opens on December 19, 2014

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About the Author

Born and raised in Dallas, Mark has been a movie critic since 1994, with reviews featured in print, radio and National TV. In 2001 he started the Entertainment section of the Herorealm website, where he contributed film reviews and celebrity interviews until 2004. After three years of service there, he started Bigfanboy.com, which has become one of the Dallas film community's leading information websites. Bigfanboy hosts several movie screenings in the Texas area, and works closely with film and TV studios and promotional partners to host exciting events and contests. The site also features a variety of rare celebrity and filmmaker interviews, and Bigfanboy.com regularly covers the film festival circuit as well. In addition to Hollywood reporting, Mark has worked for many years as an advertising and sci-fi/comic book artist. Clients have included Lucasfilm Ltd., Topps Trading Cards, The Dallas Mavericks and The Dallas Stars. From 2002 until 2015 he managed the Dallas Comic Con, Sci-Fi Expo and Fan Days events in the DFW area. He currently catalogs rare comic books and movie memorabilia for Heritage Auctions, and runs the Dallas Comic Show conventions, but remains an avid moviegoer and cinema buff.