Annie (2014)
Certified: U
Duration: 118 minutes
Directed by: Will Gluck
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Quvenzhané Wallis, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, Cameron Diaz, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Tracie Thoms, Dorian Missick, David Zayas, Peter Van Wagner, Patricia Clarkson, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Rihanna
KRS Releasing Ltd

Aileen Quinn as Annie with Albert Finney as Oliver Warbucks in the original 1982 film.

Under the production hands of Will Smith, Jay-Z and Jada Pinkett Smith comes the fourth film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Annie. I can just imagine how individuals who watched the first movie, released in 1982, will want to see this version even though this picture is a very different proposition.

This is very much the same kind of offering that Smith’s remake of the Karate Kid was. It seems that the actor and his family are intent on bringing back the films of the past into the modern era and aiming them at an even younger audience.

This reworking has been kept more down to earth and yet more hip and cool with the kids. The 1982 film had not been popular with the critics but it had been popular with young girls, and through its songs managed to cross over the decades and maintain its popularity.

The production has inserted into the proceedings modern versions of the well-known ditties from the musical, but with a twist.

The film is not aiming at big dance professional numbers. It’s aiming for a feel-good factor where the cast are very obviously enjoying themselves letting their hair down.

The film is not aiming at big dance professional numbers, but a feel-good factor

Annie focuses around its young star, Quvenzhané Wallis, who is still fresh from the success of the indie film Beasts of the Southern Wild.

This time around, in fact, Annie is an African-American complete with an afro hairstyle. From the start she comes out as being an obvious leader to the other girls. She lives in a foster home in Harlem which is under the control of Colleen Hannigan (Cameron Diaz).

Colleen is a sour woman whose career as a back-up singer was a failure. At one point Annie chases her dog Sandy in the street where she meets Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx), a billionaire who has made his bucks from mobile phones and is in the running for mayor.

Stacks ends up being Annie’s saviour when he stops her from getting hit by a car. This results in a video of him saving her going viral.

Subsequently, Annie is reeled in for promotional purposes, but she wilily manages to negotiate to go and live with Stacks. Here, in this plush world, she ends up making acquaintances with Grace (Rose Byrne), Stacks’s British adviser, and Mrs Kovacevic (Stephanie Kurtzuba), a social services officer. Annie will turn the world on its hinges and Stacks’s life upside down as she brims with a positive outlook and irrepressible energy.

Wallis is the film’s heart and well of identity. She continues from where she left off in Beasts of the Southern Wild, with the difference here being that she is at the other side of the emotional spectrum. Gone is that raw emotional void and instead she radiates positive perkiness and a tangible sense of energy. Diaz goes over the top as she slums it out, while Foxx is all about heart. Bobby Cannavale is suitably slimy while Byrne fits the glove in a British-as-British-can-be role.

The film delivers hit staples like It’s the Hard Knock Life and Tomorrow with new gusto that is not in line with the finesse that one usually associates with a musical. The production does not aim for high notes or perfect dance moves as it adapts to its cast and lets them play to their own qualities.

The film’s true star is, however, New York, which once again comes out as a city with a presence of its own.

Overall, the picture is quite a jolly diversion for young girls who will again want to sing and dance to It’s the Hard Knock Life.