Annie (2014 film) | Movie Review

About Annie (2014 film)

Annie is a 2014 American musical comedy-drama film directed by Will Gluck and produced by Village Roadshow Pictures and Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment for Sony Pictures' Columbia Pictures. A contemporary adaptation of the 1977 Broadway musical of the same name, which was in turn based upon the 1924 comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray, the film stars Quvenzhané Wallis in the title role and Jamie Foxx in the role of Will Stacks, an update of Daddy Warbucks. The film co-stars Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, and Cameron Diaz.

Cast : 

Quvenzhané Wallis as Annie Bennett, a foster child who lives in a foster home who desires to search for her parents.
Jamie Foxx as William "Will" Stacks, a wealthy politician based on Oliver Warbucks.
Rose Byrne as Grace Farrell, Stacks' faithful personal assistant and Annie's mother figure.
Bobby Cannavale as Guy, a "bulldog political adviser" to Stacks.
Cameron Diaz as Miss Colleen Hannigan, the cruel control freak of the foster home where Annie resides.
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Nash, "the tough but lovable bodyguard and driver for Stacks and a good friend of Annie.

My notes on Annie:

Movie Review by Jason Javier

1. The movie opened with a typical Annie, a tiny freckle-faced Caucasian redhead, reading a report on former US Presidents. The teacher then called the real Annie, played by Quvenzhane Wallis, a smart and spunky African-American. I loved this wink, wink opening because Wallis was just too adorable in the lead role. I was also happy with the color blind casting because the role of Annie had nothing to do with her skin color anyway.

2. When I heard the teacher call Annie B., I immediately thought Annie Batungbakal and I started humming the theme song and imagined Nora doing a song and dance number ("Sa umaga, dispatsadora. Sa gabi, siya'y bonggang-bongga...").

3. For a musical, most of the production numbers felt lacking. The only one I truly enjoyed was It's The Hard Knock Life. Everything else felt joyless. Even the classic Tomorrow wasn't memorable since it just had her walking the streets of Harlem. Why bother with a remake?

4. Cameron Diaz can be funny whenever she goes bat-shit crazy in her movies. Here, her campiness only served as a distraction. She was just irritating all throughout. Even her musical number was horrible. Do you still remember her singing "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" in My Best Friend's Wedding? She sang exactly like that in the most grating voice ever. Only here it wasn't played for laughs.

5. Blatant Purell product placement. No better than a Kris Aquino movie. ("Product placement keeps the movie business afloat!", said one character.)

6. The viral video of Jamie Foxx saving Annie was all wrong. How could it have different takes and taken from two different angles when it was supposedly shot by an onlooker?

7. I love Rose Byrne, I really do, but she should not be allowed to sing again. Hey, why was this musical populated by terrible singers given their own musical highlights? All it needed was Russell Crowe.

8. The updated version had Annie with a Twitter account and saved by Instagram. Groan.

9. I feel bad for Sia. I actually liked "Opportunity".

10. The final act had a last minute twist, a villain that never really got his due, a final conflict, and a quick resolution that led to a song and dance number by way of Mother Lily. Ugh.

Annie (2014 film) is directed by Will Gluck, Produce by Village Roadshow Pictures
Overbrook Entertainment and distributed by Columbia Pictures.

Movie Rate : ★★☆☆☆