The remake of the 1982 film, “Annie” made its way towards theaters Dec. 19. This fun, kid friendly movie captured the attention of most families while portraying an orphan girl looking for her parents and stumbling upon a different kind of guardian. However, it was built up and did not meet expectations for those looking for self entertainment.
For those who’ve seen the first Annie, the remake had much to live up to. Starring Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, and the young and talented, Aileen Quinn as Annie, this movie was packed full of thrilling scenes and happy music. It gave you an inside look on an orphanage in New York and made you develop certain feelings for each character.
Not only that, the orphan roles were played by little girls who had a personality of their own, and the adult roles were beautifully acted. Every actor/actress portrayed exactly who they were supposed to be, making you hate or love them depending on who they were.
It might have been my experience growing up with the old Annie movie that made everything about the new one a major flop, but all in all I expected much better work from the movie’s producers, Will Smith, Shawn Carter, Jada Smith, and others. Other than the beautiful scenery in New York, the remake did not have much to offer.
To start out, the beautiful Cameron Diaz did surprisingly poorly in her role as the drunk foster mom, Ms. Hannigan. It was entirely too scripted every time she spoke, making me cringe and question her other acting rolls such as in The Other Woman.
Jamie Foxx, playing the new and improved Mr. Stacks, did a better job. Providing laughter through certain scenes and warmth through others, Foxx did not make many mistakes. Cheesiness was a reoccurring issue with him, however, and also occurs in the lead actress, Annie, played by Quvenzhane Wallis.
Although her buoyant hair and charm are very noticeable, it hardly covers up her acting mess ups. Quvenzhane Wallis with no doubt is blessed with a beautiful voice, but because this wasn’t her first film to star in, I expected her acting skills to be much greater. Her lines were cheesy and some of the emotions came off as fake. Personally, I think they could’ve found a better actress with the same talent.
Being a musical, you would think Annie would fulfill its legacy and more. Instead, because it is the modern version, i became embarrassed that even with the technology we have, we could not bump up the singing. Diaz, Foxx, and Wallis performed to songs placed in at awkward times giving me little motivation to sing along.
Even though this remake did do an incredible job at twisting the old Annie to fit a more modern, technologically advanced society, overall I will always wonder what else i could have spent my ten dollars on that wouldn’t have been such a waste as this film was.