My Little ANNIE (2014) Review

[Jordan Catalano]

I can't believe I liked this movie. I still don't understand why it was "necessary" to remake it, but damnit, I think it works (for the most part). I'll start with what I think didn't work. First up is the music. There's just not enough of it here. When a musical doesn't have any songs for 20 or so minutes and then someone breaks into song again it always seems odd. There's really only a handful of songs sung "live" by the cast in the film with the remainder of the songs prerecorded and used over montages and other scenes. This film really could have benefited from adding back in the additional music that was cut. But what music is in the film is good and for the most part everyone sounds in good voice.

Secondly, this films Hannigan is pretty awful. I do have to say I think it's not all Cameron Diaz's fault here, she was completely miscast. She's too "nice" of an actress to play this weird kind of mean. It's just not believable, but that's pretty much all the screenplays fault, not hers. It's just a ridiculously underused, underwritten character here.

But the rest of the cast is actually pretty wonderful. Wallis as Annie is just delighful. She comes across as a REAL KID with none of those annoying child actor-isms that so many of them have. She sounds great and is as charming an Annie as I think anyone could ever want. Foxx as Stacks is equally great in a role that could very easily be overacted and hammy. But honestly, to me, the standout is Rose Byrne. She's just so damn wonderful and gorgeous and sweet and rainbows and unicorns and every Lisa Frank adjective you can think of. I want her to adopt ME.

Look, this ANNIE is different. We all know it's not the ANNIE we all know and love and that really bothered me before I saw this. And I know there will be a lot of people who will be bothered by that even after they see this new one. But for an updated take on the material, the final product, to me, is charming, funny and just really delightful. And yeah, I even cried at the end.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Thanks for the review! Looking forward to see it with my sisters!

[degrassifan]

I pretty much agree with your review. It's not a masterpiece by any means, and it won't be winning any awards anytime soon, but I thought it was a cute and funny musical. Some parts actually made me want to tear up. The "Opportunity" scene was the stand out to me! And yes, Rose Bryne was delightful!! Some of the celebrity cameos surprised me (in a good way). I'm alluding to the "Moonquake Lake" scene.

[Musical Master]

Thanks for the review and I always knew that Wallis was going to be a really good Annie that isn't "cutesy" but a real kid. But I will agree that Diaz is a huge miscast and this version's Hannigan was going to be poorly done, if the role was played by Kate Hudson or Sandra Bullock maybe the material would've been less bad.

I might see this eventually but I'll be seeing BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES and INTO THE WOODS instead.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Ok, this is alarming. I want to know who kidnapped the real Jordan Catalano and gave us this feel-good wimp of a reviewer in his place. Everybody's talented, everything's charming. Sure. Maybe it's the triptofan in his system...

[Jordan Catalano]

Lol.

I'll let you in on a little secret about me - One of my favorite things in the entire world are sappy Hallmark commercials. I could watch them non stop for hours.

[n2nbaby]

My grade is a little lenient because I really enjoyed Rose Byrne and Quvenzhané Wallis, they were much better than the material that was given to them. Jamie Foxx wasn't terrible, though he was hit or miss throughout the majority of the movie. The real disaster here is Cameron Diaz. As someone who usually likes her performances, she was just absolutely god awful her. She had an accent that was on and off, her performance was just all of the place in general. It was completely embarrassing. With all of that being said, this was a completely boring film and it was very poorly directed. None of the musical sequences are exciting and they feel like TV commercials, the auto tune on the cast is so bad they sound like robots. Ugh.

D

This is going to get trashed by critics.

[Fantod]

Thanks for the review. I'm glad it's not as awful as people thought it was going to be. I'll check it out when it comes out around here. May I ask how you got to see the movie almost a month in advance?

[Showface]

Was there a screening? I thought the film did not premiere until the 18th...

[theatergoer3]

A screener leaked online a few days ago. It could have been that or they may have been a screening.

[rosscoe(au)]

I hated everything about it, Wallis is such a little spoiled bitch in this, I wanted to slap her off the screen, nothing about this worked for me.. But also I am not the target audience for this.

[Jordan Catalano]

An actor friend of mine showed it to me. I assumed it was his academy screener.

[Fantod]

Very cool!

[ArtMan]

Fantod, if you register with Gofobo you can be eligible to attend advance screenings in your area. After registering, studios, like Sony, will send you emails for their screenings, also.

[ArtMan]

Double Post

[smallvillefan16]

Which songs are background songs, and not actually song on screen? We know that 'Smile' and 'Moonquake' are background...anything else?

[darquegk]

I'm surprised that Diaz disappointed you. Ever since "Bad Teacher" and maybe before, Diaz has traded her sexpot ingenue image for a sort of pleasantly grotesque femininity. I would have thought that a methy white-trash Miss Hannigan would be right up her alley.

[JP2]

That's unfortunately not how the role is written/acted.


I'll agree she's the weakest link. The rest of the cast is actually pretty delightful, with Wallis and Byrne being the standouts. I agree, it needed more songs, but the ones that were there were fun. Opportunity being the highlight.

I think my biggest issue is with Will Gluck. I adore Easy A and Friends With Benefits, but unfortunately the humor of those films doesn't translate well to family-friendly PG fare.

All in all, I'll take my little sister to see this. She'll probably love it.

[degrassifan]

It's not that Cameron Diaz was bad. She was working with the material she was given, and the screenplay was pretty bad. As for the songs, I think they could've definitely updated "NYC." The new song in place of "NYC" was pretty forgettable. Also, "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" was an update I didn't like when I first listened to the soundtrack, but it became my favorite of the old songs after watching the film. "Opportunity" was definitely the highlight though.

[FindingNamo]

I never understood the predisposition against this. I recall the first set picture of the little girl and her backpack and the dog and ______________ being the first out of the gate to say the movie "looked terrible."

[HorseTears]

Any Razzie predictions?

[Scripps2]

Pleased to read this.

I never understood the negativism either.

[HorseTears]

The negativism? Maybe it has something to do with clips like this...




Good God.

[SNAFU]

Damn, just seeing that has made it a sure thing, I will never see this film.

[rosscoe(au)]

Jamie Foxx should get a razzie for this, it really was jebus awful