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Annie

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Annie (Facebook)
Annie (Facebook)
What's it about:

Annie is a young, happy foster kid who’s also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they'd be back for her someday, it's been a hard knock life ever since, with her mean foster mom, Miss Hannigan. But everything’s about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks, advised by his brilliant VP and his shrewd and scheming campaign advisor, makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in. Stacks believes he’s her guardian angel, but Annie’s self-assured nature and bright, sun-will-come-out-tomorrow outlook on life just might mean that it’s the other way around.

What we thought:

 It’s 2015 and Annie finally got a makeover. It was about time that the childhood classic put on a fancy new coat.

The casting of the talented Quvenzhané Wallis, best known for her Academy Award nominated role in Beasts of the Southern Wild, in the lead was a delightful surprise and promising sign of great things to come.

Joined by Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz the modernised Annie was set for box office gold. How can you go wrong with such a great cast?

But sadly Annie 2015 is proof that not even an amazing cast can save a bad movie.

Modern Annie just doesn’t live up to the expectation. Instead of a fancy new coat Annie has to be satisfied with a dusty old hand-me-down.

Director Will Gluck failed miserably at giving Annie a makeover and bringing her into the 21st century. The movie basically has the same storyline as the original Broadway hit but with a few modern twist and turns that do little to impress.

Reference to social media and modern technology feel forced into the plotline – something today’s tech-savvy youth will quickly pick up on.

It’s almost as if Gluck gave up halfway through. There are absolutely no new imaginative twists or creative surprises. No magical moments or emotional tearjerkers that capture the spark of Annie. It’s a movie on auto-pilot that cruises through the storyline at glacial pace.

While Wallis is an absolute treat in the lead, Foxx fails to shine. His uncomfortable park-bench-jumping and lamp-post-swinging dance moves are outdated and honestly embarrassing to watch. But it’s Diaz’s terrible vocals that finally sink the modern Annie ship.
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