Annie

Oh, did I dislike this new take on the musical Annie.  It rubbed me the wrong way from the very opening scene.  As the movie opens, we see an overly spunky little red-headed moppet giving a report on her favorite President, William Henry Harrison (who died one month after being elected).   When her report ends, the entire class groans, and her teacher rolls his eyes, and says "thanks, Annie".  So, this little girl is obviously supposed to be a parody of how the character of Annie is usually depicted.  It sets a unnecessarily cynical tone for the picture right from the word go.

The teacher then calls up "Annie B" to give her report, and it's here that we're introduced to the young star of this movie, Quvenzhane Wallis, the little girl who made such a huge impact in Beasts of the Southern Wild.  She approaches the podium to give her report on her President, and immediately comes across as a cutesy little movie brat the second she opens her mouth.  She plays for the camera, is constantly beaming her megawat smile, is cloyingly cute and unleashes so much forced energy at all times, you want her to stop and just act like a normal kid.  Talented as Miss Wallis may be, she can't rise above this material, and shows no sign of subtlety or timing here.  I fear that this is the performance that director and co-writer, Will Gluck (Friends with Benefits), was seeking from her, as the movie itself is as tone deaf as the lead performance.

Tone deaf is the right word to describe this movie, as everything just feels off.  The musical numbers are staged more like mini music videos, instead of the big grand music sequences they're supposed to be.  They're not even good music videos, they're lazy and have an odd habit of trying to hide the choreography as much as possible.  The movie uses some of the songs from the original 1977 Broadway musical (and 1982 film adaptation of the musical), but some of the songs have been rewritten completely, and not for the better.  There are even some new songs written for the film, and the best thing you can say about them is that they'll leave your mind as soon as they're done.  The cast that has been assembled to sing the song is largely a mixed bag.  Some seem to be making an effort, like Jamie Foxx (playing Annie's adoptive father figure, Will Stacks).  Most, however, have been heavily autotuned, making them sound like singing robots.

Even the plot has not been able to survive this modern day update.  What was once the story of a plucky little orphan girl who rose above adversity has been transformed into a story about a little smartass of a kid who semi-cons her way into joining the wealthy 1%.  Young Annie starts the film off living in a foster home, where she is looked after by the frequently hungover Miss Hannigan, played by an over the top Cameron Diaz.  You know, I like Diaz, and have enjoyed her in many films.  She can be a very gifted comedic actress.  But her recent body of work seems to betray that notion, and this is especially true here.  I don't know what she was going for here, maybe a cartoonish parody of a cruel foster mother.  She's constantly falling over things and screaming most of her lines.  Even stranger, her character has for some reason been written as if she doesn't know she's supposed to be in a musical.  Whenever people around her start singing, she starts screaming at them to shut up, or asks why they're singing in the first place.  This makes it all the more bizarre when she eventually starts belting out her own numbers later on in the film. 

But, I digress.  Annie is hoping to find her parents and leave her current life behind.  She gets her chance when she literally bumps into Will Stacks (Foxx), a billionaire cell phone mogul who is running for Mayor of New York.  He's dropping in the polls, and his slimy campaign adviser, Guy (Bobby Cannavale) sees Annie as an opportunity for Stacks to improve his image.  If he's seen with and adopts the little girl, it will improve his opinion with the public.  Annie decides to take advantage of the billionaire, and milks the opportunity for all it's worth.  So, we have a story of two people who are essentially using each other for their own selfish ends.  Whatever happened to family films about love and acceptance?  Sure, the two do eventually develop feelings for each other and build a family unit, with Mr. Stacks' sweet young assistant, Grace (Rose Byrne), becoming the eventual mother figure.  But the relationship between Annie and Stacks never warms up enough that we can believe that they need each other.  It feels like these two characters are using each other all the way through.

I don't know if Will Gluck was the right man to helm this material.  He seems uncomfortable working within the musical field.  The one time he does seem comfortable is during a "movie within a movie" sequence, where Sacks takes Annie to a film premiere, and it's a corny parody of Young Adult Sci-Fi and fantasy films starring Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis.  Everything else has been shot in such a literal and boring manner.  Musicals are not supposed to be literal.  They're supposed to be flights of fancy, where the characters break into song and dance, and something magical happens up there on the screen.  Here, we get a full musical number where Foxx and Wallis do absolutely nothing but sit across from each other inside a helicopter.  This is a movie musical that almost seems embarrassed at times to be a movie musical.

Annie is one of the strangest and most cynical musicals I have ever seen.  There's not a moment here that is warm, charming or even captures the slightest notion of what a movie musical should be.  From the completely off key tone of the film, right down to the performances that seem to be trying hard yet accomplish nothing, this is one of the more mystifying releases of 2014.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

0 comments