Jackson Booth-Millard
The original 1982 movie, an adaptation of the Broadway hit, based on the popular comic strip, is fun and worthwhile enough, this contemporary remake sees the title character going from red-headed moppet to an African American child with a big afro hairdo, I was willing to give it a chance, produced by Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, directed by Will Gluck (Easy A, Friends with Benefits). Basically in Harlem, Manhattan Island, New York City, Annie Bennett (Golden Globe nominated Quvenzhané Wallis) lives in foster care with several other girls under the care of Colleen Hannigan (Razzie nominated Cameron Diaz), a bitter former singer taking the benefits, who spends most of her time drinking. Annie spends Fridays waiting outside Domani's restaurant, hoping her parents will return, as promised on a receipt note. One day, a city inspector checks on Hannigan's treatment of the girls, she sees her social security number on his form, and goes to find information, but she learns nothing she does not already know about herself. Annie saves a Shiba Inu dog from bullies, she steps out into the road, but is saved by mogul William Stacks (Jamie Foxx), who is running for mayor. Stacks' campaign manager Guy Danlily (Bobby Cannavale) tells him the rescue was caught on video and has gone viral, boosting his popularity, Guy convinces Stacks to take Annie in, to live with him, in a scheme to boost his campaign. Annie enjoys her new surroundings, and makes friends with many staff members, including Stacks' assistant Grace Farrell (Rose Byrne), and she adopts the dog from earlier, naming her Sandy. Bonding with Annie, Stacks reveals he never really knew his father, due to his work commitments, but believed he could understand him if he worked as hard, Annie also helps Stacks and Grace realise their romantic feelings for each other. Annie requests Stacks take her and her friends from Miss Hannigan's foster home to a movie premiere, Stacks is at first disinterested in the movie, but becomes a fan, along with Grace, Annie also insist they go to the after-movie party. Annie's friends are returned home, Annie then shows Grace her Friday routine of waiting for her parents; Grace sympathises and agrees to keep this secret from Stacks. At Hannigan's foster home, the girls accidentally wake her up; Hannigan snaps at them, saying rich people are not nice and will ditch anyone they don't like anymore, recalling her past, in a drunken state she recalls her former music career. Annie is asked to read a speech at a charity event, she runs out, revealing she cannot read, despite being 10 years old and attending school, Stacks decides to find a special-ed teacher for Annie, but Guy believes she will only hinder the mayoral campaign. Teaming up with Hannigan, Guy plans to find imposters to pose as Annie's parents, so that Stacks appears to have found them, to boost his popularity and win, Guy and Hannigan will share the payment. However, Guy plans to dump Annie back into the system following the election, with no care for her wellbeing, by the point Hannigan is having second thoughts, the imposters have already kidnapped Annie. Hannigan tells Stacks about the plan, Guy is fired, and Stacks, Grace, Hannigan and the girls board a helicopter to chase the getaway car. Annie is mistaken in thinking that Stacks arranged her kidnapping, the kidnappers assumed he paid them, not Guy, when she is rescued, she refuses to believe him that he had no knowledge of the scheme. To prove his innocence and he truly cares for Annie, Stacks announces to the press that he is quitting the mayoral race, and Annie helps Grace and Stacks admit their love for each other, all three of them dance and sing happily. Later, Annie announces the opening of the "Stacks Literacy Centre", to help children like her learn how to read, everyone sings her song "Tomorrow", Hannigan attempts to sing, only to be stopped. Also starring Lost's Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Nash, David Zayas as Lou, Dorian Missick as Annie's "Dad" and Tracie Thoms as Annie's "Mom". Wallis is suited to the leading role, she is both cute and confident, Diaz is nowhere near as memorable as Carol Burnett, and Foxx is adequate as the cynical billionaire won round by the youngster. It sticks to the same sort of plot, girl brought in to change a rich man's reputation and wins him round, only differences are she is an orphan in foster care rather than an orphanage, and everything is more modern, including the use of technology to assist characters. "Hard Knock Life" and the other original songs you are still just about able to sing along to, but it is a bit haphazard, the script is predictable, the choreography is not as slick, and the use of more vibrant colours is distracting, it is a fair but slightly sloppy musical. It was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Original Song for "Opportunity", and it won the Razzie for Worst Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel. Okay!
Tokana Hennequin
I loved the original movie, so was a bit skeptical about seeing this one, especially as it had some negative reviews when it first came out in the cinemas.The movie was similar to the original, but modernised. Gone are the mansion, maids, down-trodden streets of New York, the dark lighting, the all-white cast… in it's place, we know what Will Stacks (the modernised version of Daddy Warbucks) does for a living, a girl who can look after herself and is looking for her identity (maybe that was also in the original, but I can't exactly remember), and a multi-racial cast. Halleluiah!I remember an episode of Boston Legal where a girl was auditioning for a stage production of Annie, but the producers denied her because she wasn't the typical, stereotype, racial white. Who cares?! This movie proves that Annie can be whatever nationality she wants to be, and it's great!What made the original movie great was Carol Burnette's Hannigan, who was a nasty piece of work who only cared about herself and really put those poor girls to work – I really felt sorry for those poor foster children! While Cameron Diaz doesn't have quite the same punch as Burnette, she pulled this role off in her own right, over the top as it was.The music was great, and I didn't notice, until I read some reviews that some of it was original pieces, which was great and spruced up the movie a lot more!Would I see it again? Sure.
