Review of Annie (2014) by Dave M — 10 Aug 2015

The character of Annie, an orphaned girl trying to make it in the big city, is older and has gone through more changes that most people realize. In 1885, James Whitcomb Riley published a short poem called "The Elf Child", featuring a character named "Little Orphant Annie", which became the poem's title for its third printing. This poem has the title character telling stories of children who were taken away by goblins for misbehavior like mocking people or failing to say bedtime prayers. In 1918, a silent film of the same title was released, but Annie's big break came in 1924, when Harold Gray's famous comic strip debuted. This is where we first see the characters of Annie's dog, Sandy, and her wealthy adopted father, Daddy Warbucks. The strip led to a radio show in 1930 and "Little Orphan Annie" movies in 1932 and 1938. As the comic strip continued through the Great Depression and World War II, Annie's adventures involved her in the major political issues of the day.

Then, in 1977, Annie learned to sing - on Broadway! The story was now just titled "Annie" and was a musical which took place during the Depression, introduced us to songs like "It's the Hard Knock Life" and "Tomorrow" and added the characters of Miss Hannigan and even President Franklin Roosevelt, who becomes personally involved in Annie's life. A 1982 feature film (with Albert Finney and Carol Burnett and directed by John Houston) and a 1999 made-for-TV movie (in which Rob Marshall directed Victor Garber, Kathy Bates and Alan Cumming) both followed the musical pretty closely. The original comic ended in 2010, but interest in Annie and her story continued. And that brings us to 2014, when another big-screen "Annie" (PG, 1:58) keeps the main characters, but modernizes and significantly changes the story.

Annie is played by Quvenzhané Wallis, who made quite a splash - and earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for 2012's "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and appeared in 2013's Best Picture Oscar winner "12 Years a Slave". In this version, Annie lives in a NYC apartment with several other girls under the foster care of the bitter and mean Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz), who, in spite of all her unpleasantness, is idolized and courted by Lou (David Zayas from "Dexter"), who owns the corner store underneath her apartment. Oscar winner Jaime Foxx plays the Daddy Warbucks role, but his character's name is Will Stacks and he's a rich, but lonely and jaded cell phone entrepreneur who is running for mayor. Rose Byrne plays Grace, Will's personal assistant, who, in spite of his callousness and business-focused unpleasantness seems to admire him and enjoy his company. Rounding out the main cast is Bobby Cannavale as Will's ambitious and opportunistic campaign manager, Guy, and Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje as Will's kindly driver.

Annie insists repeatedly, "I am not an orphan!" It's not just because she's technically a foster child, but because she's convinced that her parents, who abandoned her in an Italian restaurant and left a note that they'd come back for her, will someday do so. Annie spends every Friday evening sitting on the curb across the street from the restaurant waiting for a couple whom she says she will "just know" are her parents. Since she's living under the uncaring eye of Miss Hannigan who is obviously only taking care of the girls for the money she gets from the government, the hope of finding her parents is all Annie has to hold on to. But then, fate intervenes.

One day when Annie is out running around the city streets, she falls in front of oncoming traffic and Will snatches her up out of the path of a van just in a nick of time. A bystander catches video of the scene on his cell phone, posts it online and the clip quickly goes viral. Will, whose campaign had been struggling because of his inability to connect with people, suddenly begins rising in the polls. Guy suggests that Will invite Annie to lunch for a photo-op. Annie's cuteness and sweet nature make the ploy successful, and her street-wise second nature leads to her being invited to live with Will for a while. He's indifferent, but Grace befriends the young girl and helps her to feel comfortable in her new luxurious, state-of-the-art home.

Annie enjoys her new life of privilege (with her newly-adopted dog Sandy) and is even able to share some of the benefits of her new life with the girls who are still living in Miss Hannigan's bar-less prison. Although Annie still longs to be part of a loving family, for now, she's happy, a condition that appears will last exactly as long as she is useful to those who are using her. What happens next is anyone's guess - unless you've seen the musical or either of the two most recent film versions of the story.

"Annie" did not do especially well at the box office and even Neil Patrick Harris joked about the film's lack of success when he hosted the Oscars, but I wonder if people didn't judge the movie unduly harshly. It's not perfect, but it is entertaining. Wallis hits exactly the right notes of sweetness, worldliness, hopefulness and frustration at just the right times. Foxx is convincing throughout the process of his character softening and his priorities rearranging. Byrne is charming throughout and Cannavale is both funny and slimy as the single-minded political operative. Diaz is a bit over-the-top as the _itchy (witchy) foster mom and Zayas is completely over-the-top in his pining admiration for her. The story is nicely updated for this decade and the new plot points work pretty well, but this is ultimately a musical. The singing wasn't especially good and the choreography and staging were uninspired. The movie was fun in the way that this story has been fun for nearly four decades now, but it feels like this version's fun factor owes more to its pedigree than its own accomplishments. "C+".