In the early 80s, Hollywood gave us a classic musical. One about an orphan called Annie.
This one is basically the same but “re-imagined“, urgh, to the present day.
Originally planned by Will Smith for a vehicle for his daughter, Willow. He did try this before with his son, twice, with a mix of success. Anyone remember After Earth? Thought not.
Fortunately, Willow outgrew the role so they found someone who looked similar to her but at the right age. An Oscar nominated actress. The first nominee who was born in the 21st century, Quvenzhané Wallis.
It seems, from the trailer, that it’s the same plot with the same songs in it. Jamie Foxx plays the “Daddie” Warbucks role (renamed for this version as Will Stacks) and Cameron Diaz as Miss Hannigan, the control freak foster home owner.
We see Annie changed from the blue eyed, blonde haired girl to a black haired black actress.
This, I feel, is another attempt of Hollywood to make money out of an old idea that they know will work. The major distributors lost their way sometime in the late 90s and are now just looking at the bottom line. How much money can they make with the film and not, what they should be doing, making films for the audience. Think back over the last couple of years and see if you can name one film, apart from Gravity, that wasn’t a superhero film or a sequel. In some cases this was both in the same film!
for a new audience who don’t know the original, then it may work but for their parents, I would recommend just getting the DVD of the original and play that. That’ll actually mean you can watch it time and again and save a large amount of money going to see the re-imagined version.
From the below trailer, it does seem that it’s a very lavish production that does work. On the flip side, it doesn’t feel as good as the original.
Watch the trailer for this film and then watch the classic version below it and make up your mind. If, like me, you like the original you can always head over to a well known online store a buy it.
Academy Award® nominee Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) stars as Annie, a young, happy foster kid who’s also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they’d be back for her someday, it’s been a hard knock life ever since with her mean foster mom Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz). But everything’s about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx) – advised by his brilliant VP, Grace (Rose Byrne) and his shrewd and scheming campaign advisor, Guy (Bobby Cannavale) – makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in. Stacks believes he’s her guardian angel, but Annie’s self-assured nature and bright, sun-will-come-out-tomorrow outlook on life just might mean it’s the other way around.
Breaking out of the foster home and into UK cinemas February 6, 2015
