Annie (2014)

[StevePulaski]

Annie (2014)
Directed by: Will Gluck

Quvenzhané Wallis in the third film remake of Annie.

Rating: ★★

Will Gluck's Annie remake has all the motions it needs to be successful, from a great cast of actors who have proved to be capable and talented before, nice cinematography thanks to the likes of Michael Grady, and extremely slick editing by Tia Nolan, who matches every song with a finely-trimmed, briskly-paced compilation of shots that effectively churn out a delightful rigor to the project. However, the film lacks one thing that would pull it up to the level of recommendation and noteworthiness and that is a soul. The film, despite having strong components here and there, looks, feels, sounds, and moves not like a giddy adaptation of a classic story, but a micromanaged studio project that lacks authenticity in its emotions and beneath its candy-colored textures lies heaping amounts of artificiality, like a falsely-advertised supplement or sports drink.

The classic story of Annie needs no reiteration, but here, writers Gluck and Aline Brosh McKenna tweak things slightly; the film focuses on Annie (played by Oscar-nominated Beasts of the Southern Wild actress Quvenzhané Wallis, making this film the first to showcase an African-American Annie), a young orphan who lives in a foster home with several other young children and is commanded by her mean-spirited, often hungover foster mother Colleen Hannigan (Cameron Diaz). Despite having such a dour situation, Annie keeps a positive outlook on life, clinging towards the idea she'll meet her biological parents one day, holding a letter written by them and a locket showing half of a heart as her memories of them. One day, Annie is racing down the busy streets of New York when she trips into the street and is almost hit by a speeding car, only to be narrowly saved by Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx), a wealthy politician campaigning to win the mayoral race. Immediately after rescuing Annie, Stacks and his bumbling crew (Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale) suggest using Annie has a pictorial staple to Stacks' so far ho-hum campaign; having Annie on board would presumably liven the emotional element sorely lacking from Stacks' campaign and would reinvigorate his image with positivity and sensitivity.

Annie doesn't mind essentially being used because she finally gets to leave the clutches of a needy, controlling foster mother, and we can quietly hint that she knows she has the ability to reach Stacks in his heart. She's too young to truly understand the corrupt and often dishonest nature of politicians, and sees everyone through eyes of earnestness that many kids do. Her free-spirit is her best friend in this case, and the film follows the relationship that unfolds between these two opposites.

For starters, the music in the film is greatly hit and miss, but the energy it provides is always welcomed, predominately because it disrupts from the mediocrity of the exposition and acting. The music provides the life of the film, and I'll be damned if the new rendition of "It's a Hard Knock Life" wasn't arguably the best film adaptation of that song that I have yet to see (yes, I did see the 1982 and 1999 versions as well). However, other songs like "Easy Street" and "Who Am I?" are smothered by grating autotune, which only heightens my comment about the rampant artificiality with the film as a whole. Nonetheless, the songs of the film provide for momentary escapism in a film that is otherwise grounded in boring and often cheesy safeness.

Returning to my point about the acting and exposition, Annie's coffin-sealing nail is how lame its performances are. Everyone from Foxx, Byrne, and even Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who showed promise in The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete and Pompeii this year, feel like they're slumming their performances in search for a hefty paycheck. Nobody seems to be committing to anything worthwhile in the film, and any evident optimism is crushed by a safe, antiseptic screenplay. The only soul with some heart here is Wallis, but even she seems bored and unchallenged at times, and how couldn't she? The perky eleven-year-old who was awarded a nomination for Best Actress at the Academy Awards for a complex and natural performance in a sleeper hit just two years ago is now being asked to comply with obvious and somewhat manipulative emotional material brought forth in a remake of a remake of a stage-play. I'd be bored out of my mind too.

The other performer here showing some heart is Diaz, playing one of her only villainous roles in recent memory. While over-the-top and a bit too manic at times, Diaz still effectively manages to pull off an incorrigible character, and proves that her liveliness can handle just about any type of material. With that, Will Gluck's Annie will likely be what many parents will treat their little tikes to over the holiday weekend and the first couple weeks of the new year; meanwhile, Big Hero 6 is starting to wind down, playing to more and more empty seats and need I remind you that Netflix and Redbox have made finding and watching older films easier? There are not only more thoughtful options for your kids, but there are healthier ones too, and while Annie isn't as bad as some of the loathsome, "fast-food filmmaking" I've panned in the past, it's nonetheless burdened by its own cloying motions and rampant silliness to really pass for something much higher in rank.

Starring: Quvenzhané Wallis, Jamie Foxx, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, and Cameron Diaz. Directed by: Will Gluck.