Annie

It's been a very long time since I have watched or read the story of Annie. I've also never shown much particular interest in it or it's characters. Having said that, tonight I sat down and watched Will Gluck's 2014 adaptation. An updated and culturally diversified version of the classic.

Obviously the biggest change is the replacement of the white, ginger child with a black child instead. Although it's still sometimes misunderstood, a comment on race is appropriate in this case. Although I felt making the protagonist black was a cheap way of modernising the classic and giving it more 'edge', I did love Quvenzhané's interpretation of the spirited child. The change in race of key players in the film was, like I said, an attempt to add diversity to the story's vast history, yet it felt contrived at moments with characters playing into stereotypes and over exaggerating the race change. Having said that, Jamie Foxx is always entertaining to watch and makes a surprisingly appropriate Benjamin Stacks. I'm deliberately ignoring the topic of Miss Hannigan. Diaz was awful. Moving on.

It's difficult these days for musicals. Outside of broadway, spur of the moment singing comes across incredibly contrived and forced. There was very little flow between acting and singing and it seemed like with some numbers they didn't even attempt to hide the fact that the signing is not recorded live. 'I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here' sounded auto-tuned and distant which only added to the uncomfortable separation between audience and film. It's been a while since a musical (out-with the obvious animated Disney hits) has done spectacularly well in the Box Office and perhaps this movie will see that change. And for clarification, there is a clear difference between a musical and a film with music in it. For example, Rent and Pitch Perfect are not and should not both be referred to as musicals. Back to the film in question! One of Annie's most popular songs is of course 'Hard Knock Life' yet it starts in the same way as 90% of the other songs within the film. With characters or objects making noises that slowly combine to create a tune before the actors start singing. And of course, the scene is wonderfully choreographed as the young orphans dance and clean ahead of the orphanage's inspection. The singing in the film is fantastic, I have no doubt that this was considered carefully during the casting process, as it should be! But the film lacked believability and it was difficult to feel affected by the ballads designed to make my heart swell. Coming from someone who can cry at a clever and emotional advert, this is not a good sign. In fact, during the films entirety I sat rather unaffected by the whole affair.

Considering how long it's been since I've seen any adaptation of Annie, I can't contest to how much the story has changed this time around. Aspects of the film that I did enjoy are hard to recall after the fact. Nothing stood out above the rest however I particularly enjoyed scenes involving Annie's friend at the store and moments of Benjamin Stacks phobia of germs. One moment that I remember for all of the wrong reasons was just after Stacks and Annie's first encounter on the street. It's not a huge spoiler so fear not but Stacks saves Annie from an oncoming car. After this scene, an advisor shows Stacks and his PA a video that an eyewitness had captured. It was the footage that we had just seen INCLUDING the camera angle change... This is one of the biggest pet peeves of mine. It seems lazy especially when the video is shown so clearly. All it takes is someone with a phone on set filming two seconds of action. No additional camera needed considering the size of the video being played back on screen. I could rant forever about this aspect as it occurs far too often in films with giant budgets but I'll resist the temptation and continue with my review. There were a few nice moments of social commentary which focused on mobile phones, popular pre-teen movie franchises and twitter.

With a cast full of recognisable names, I'm sure this film will do well. I also have no doubt that the story alone will attract audiences who loved the previous adaptations. However, my honest opinion is that Annie is worth skipping. With songs that everyone's heard before and a rather lacklustre performance from one of the biggest actors in the film, the film is a little underwhelming. The most interesting part of the film was Stack's tech savy penthouse. If you're looking for something to see this Christmas season, do yourself a favour and see the final Hobbit film or better yet... stay at home and watch The Grinch!