AnniePosted by Wilson Morales
Remakes are tough to make, even if there are children’s classics. In this updated version of Broadway’s Annie, Oscar nominee Quvenzhane Wallis is charming and delightful as the title character but lacks the singing skills and along with poor performances by Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz, makes you want to stay home and listen to old soundtrack to get enjoyment.
Not even with a production team that includes James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Will Smith through Overbrook Entertainment, and by Shawn “JAY Z” Carter, Jay Brown, and Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith through Marcy Media, can save the mediocre musical sequences playing throughout the film.
Left in a restaurant in a Greenwich Village restaurant when she was just a baby, Annie (Wallis) now lives with other orphan girls in an Harlem apartment under the care of Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz), who rather keep adding as many kids as she can to collect government money ($157 a week).
In comes Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx), a billionaire cellphone tycoon who accidentally runs into and saves Annie from a speeding car. As Stacks is also a New York mayoral candidate, he heroic action inspires his campaign manager Guy (Bobby Cannavale) and VP, Grace (Rose Byrne) to use Annie to rise his status in the polls. He’s not popular amongst the citizen and working with Annie and other kids can boost his image.
Invited to live with Stacks, Annie takes full advantage of having a room to herself, new clothes, and some peace of mind, hoping her current situation will last long. When things start to look good and comfy between Stacks and Annie to the point where he may adopt her, Guy and Miss Hannigan conspire to see that it doesn’t happen.
When Annie gets convinced that Stacks is only using her and will send her back to Miss Hannigan, she wonders what’s best to her future.
As great as she was in “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” Wallis certainly needed more singing lessons to at least measure up to the previous folks who played on Annie on stage and screen. Foxx, on the other hand, is an accomplished singer but here, he adds no memorable value to the role or the song he sings. Poor Cameron Diaz. After her earlier film this year, ‘Sex Tape,’ died at the box office, she gives in another worthless performance. For kids who have never heard or seen any previous version of “Annie,” they may get a giggle or two from here, but other than, here’s one remake will the sun won’t come out tomorrow.
