Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

foghorn_clj Seriously it's just bad. How bad you may ask? To paraphrase a quote from Will & Grace, "Mariah-Carey-in-Glitter" bad.This movie is just so awful there is literally nothing good about it. Jamie Foxx's Will Stacks is so unlikeable you find yourself wishing he did get hit and killed by the truck at the beginning. Rose Byrne is grossly underutilised and given horribly vapid dialogue that even she can't make work. Cameron Diaz's performance as an abusive, drunk foster mum began ok and then she opened her mouth to sing and my ears started to bleed. As for newcomer Quvenzhane Wallis (P.S. Your parents should be shot for giving you that first name) seems to have been picked only because she's African American with a fro and a gap between her two front teeth. There really is no acting, singing or dancing talent here. The dialogue is pedestrian and for some reason everyone is speaking at 3x the normal speech rate so it's ridiculously hard to keep up with what's happening. And this is probably the biggest problem with this movie. It's moving so fast there's no time for character development or an emotions whatsoever. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE.

zkonedog 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.

Desertman84 Quvenzhané Wallis stars in the lead role in this modern retelling of the stage musical and 1982 musical film entitled Annie together with Jamie Foxx,Rose Byrne,Bobby Cannavale and Cameron Diaz.Adding the 1999 Disney TV movie,this happens to be the third film adaptation of the stage musical of the same title.Will Gluck directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Aline Brosh McKenna.The year is 2014.Annie,a young and happy foster kid,has proved that she is tough enough to make her way in the streets of New York. She knew that her parents left her as a foster kid but has always had the optimistic attitude that she is going to meet them someday.What adds to her positive attitude and optimism is having a mean foster mom in Miss Hannigan. Things begin to look bright for Annie when a campaign move made by a determined New York mayoral candidate and hard-nosed tycoon begins to take in foster kids in his home through the advise of his campaign team made up of Grace and Guy.Included among the foster kids taken is Annie.Well,no question that Quvenzhané Wallis is truly deserving of her Academy Award nomination for she was happy and enthusiastic as Annie.Her performance brought out a lot of happiness in the movie despite of the film's numerous flaws.No question that there was a lot dissatisfaction in this 2014 version due to the clichéd ridden characters and the predictability it had when it portrayed distasteful materialism. Too bad that the filmmakers did not take into consideration the time the movie was released nor the current situation that the country already has in 2014.It only changed when the time of the story took place but it remained in the situation during the time when Annie was first released during the Great Depression era back in the 1930's.Realism was definitely lacking in it.

Python Hyena Annie (2014): Dir: Will Gluck / Cast: Quvenzhane Wallis, Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale: Embarrassing remake of the 1982 family classic. This time the characters go through a race change and cast the talented yet hindered Quvenzhane Wallis as orphan Annie. She sings and dances, which annoys her ruthless caregiver, played by Cameron Diaz. When she is pulled from a possible hit by a car, she discovers her rescuer is a politician, played by Jamie Foxx, whose attempts at running for Mayor are drastically going wrong. Encouraged by his assistants, he uses the opportunity to build his popularity in the media until predictably he becomes attached to Annie. Viewers can see the ending coming from the first ten minutes but it is nauseating just to sit through several forgettable dance numbers. Will Gluck directed one good film, which is Easy A. With Friends With Benefits and Fired Up added with this musical sh*t storm, he manages to strike out. With dance numbers turning up out of no where viewers are left with colorful sets and empty headed writing. The cast is stranded with idiotic dialogue that makes everyone sound like a moron. Wallis sprung to fame in The Beasts of the Southern Wild, but here her charm fails to drown out the phony delivery. Foxx does what he can with the forced material. Diaz has the one good number called, "Who Am I" but her cruel nature grows over the top. Rose Byrnes plays Foxx's assistant and hinted romantic interest whose role has her as a tongue tied idiot. Bobby Cannavale overacts as Foxx's scheming political adviser. Result is an imbecilic musical mess that should be buried deep. Score: 2 / 10