Annie is the third attempt at bringing the stage musical to screen. The persistence of this musical has always been somewhat puzzling. Though it has a couple of memorable songs, the story has always felt undercooked. This new version benefits from the formidable charms of the young Quvenzhané Wallis, and a general bounciness that allows it to transcend some of the material. But the source just isn't very good, and the movie doesn't do much to solve those original problems.
Plucky New York foster kid Annie Bennett (Quvenzhané Wallis) is still holding out hope that her parents will come back for her someday. Until then, she has to suffer the plight of living under the roof of Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz), a failed singer who's only taken in foster kids for the money. But one day, Annie runs into Will Stacks, a tech mogul running for mayor. The socially awkward Stacks is lagging in the polls until cameras catch him saving Annie from a potential accident. To improve his chances, Stacks' staff brings Annie to live with the billionaire. And though it's originally just meant to be a publicity stunt, Annie and Stacks form a bond as they spend time with each other.
The story, though updated to fit modern times, is still mostly intact. And this isn't really a good thing. The plot of the musical has never been its best feature. There really isn't much going on. The movie tries to keep itself busy with the machinations of the Stacks' campaign, but at the same time it makes it clear that no one really cares about the result. And as in the other versions, the film seems to flit along aimlessly for the first ninety minutes, before suddenly having its villains put together a bonkers plan that falls apart really quickly.
Fans of the musical will likely be disappointed with the new versions of the classic songs. The heavy use of autotune will likely offend the Broadway purists. The movie doesn’t really seem to take the music very seriously at all. The casting of non-singers in many of these parts is heavily indicative of the filmmaker’s overall approach. While the musical numbers are handled well enough, the movie seems to be much more invested in the bits that stray from the musical structure. There is a long stretch where the story basically stops for a movie-within-the-movie that feels more inspired than anything else in the two-hour runtime.
The main appeal of this adaptation is the presence of Quvenzhané Wallis, who is too charming for words. She doesn’t appear to be the strongest singer, but she really does light up the screen. She seems to make almost everyone around her better. The scenes where she is not present often feel stilted and unfocused. But around Wallis, Jamie Foxx seems to have a better grasp of who his character is. Rose Byrne, who cannot sing at all, mainly acquits herself in the visible joy she seems to have around the young actress. The only member of this cast that doesn’t benefit from Wallis’ presence is Cameron Diaz, who seems to have stumbled in from a louder, much screechier movie.
Does the world really need another Annie? The previous movie versions aren’t perfect by any means, but there isn’t really a lot of room for improvement. In theory, this new version is an Annie for a new generation, an attempt at bringing the depression-era story to the modern age. But really, the update here is completely facile. It’s Annie with cell phones and Twitter, and very little that actually makes the story more palatable.
My Rating:
