Annie (2014) Review: A Remake That Never Finds Its Tune

Annie 2014 review: a remake with a case of mixed signals

Everyone saw the first trailer. Cameron Diaz flailing through a musical number as Miss Hannigan became an instant talking point, and the common assumption was that the trailer was a warning. For once, the trailer was accurate. Annie, directed by Will Gluck from a screenplay he wrote with Aline Brosh McKenna, opened in theaters on December 19, 2014, after a premiere at New York's Ziegfeld Theatre on December 7. It runs 118 minutes, carries a PG rating and is a thorough case of an update that misreads what made the original last.

The story needs little introduction. Little Orphan Annie began as a comic strip in the 1920s, became a Broadway musical in the 1970s and reached most viewers through the 1982 film. The 2014 version takes most of its material from that film and changes the setting from the Great Depression to the present, which makes product placement far easier. Annie, played by Quvenzhané Wallis, lives not in an orphanage but in a foster home run by Colleen Hannigan, played by Diaz, who, the film explains, was once a member of the early-90s group C+C Music Factory.

The pedigree makes the result harder to accept. The 1982 film, directed by John Huston, set a template of Depression-era glamour and an oversized villain, and the stage musical it came from remains a staple of school and community theater. A remake had to offer a reason to exist beyond brand recognition. The 2014 version lists Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and Jay-Z among its producers, along with Gluck, and the Sony release was a major holiday-season family title. That kind of backing explains the polish, and it also explains the caution: the film sounds designed to offend no one and to sell tie-ins.

The wealthy benefactor is rebuilt as Will Stacks, played by Jamie Foxx, a cell phone entrepreneur who is leaving business to run for mayor of New York. He is selfish and uninterested in children until he meets Annie by accident and learns that appearing with a cute kid could help his polling. Rose Byrne plays Grace Farrell, Stacks's assistant, and Bobby Cannavale plays Guy, the schemer who tries to profit from Annie's story. Cold hearts melt, love beats greed and power, and the movie reaches the ending everyone expects.

What the update gets wrong

Nobody expected the remake to break new ground in story. The problem is how long it takes to arrive at a familiar ending. The film stretches to almost two hours, fills the middle with questionable musical choices, and assembles the messiest collection of performances imaginable. Nobody seems to be in the same movie, and tone shifts from scene to scene without a guiding hand.

The modern setting could have been an opportunity. A mayoral campaign built on a child's image gives a satire of political theater plenty to chew on. The film uses it only as a plot mechanism, and the satirical edge goes unused. What replaces the Depression-era grit is a polished, bright backdrop, where hardship is stated and never shown.

Smaller changes add up. Annie's birth parents are no longer impersonated by Hannigan's brother and his girlfriend; Guy hires other people for that scheme. Colleen Hannigan replaces Agatha as the name on the door. Sandy, the stray dog, is a female Shiba Inu in this version, where the 1982 film used a male otterhound. None of these swaps is harmful by itself, and none of them gives the film a reason to exist. Each reads as a rearrangement that was done because the writers were allowed to, not because the story asked for it, and the cumulative effect is a movie that feels cut to a template.

Quvenzhané Wallis and Jamie Foxx

The best news is Wallis. She is adorable and easy to love as Annie, and her work earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy. The nomination is a bit of a stretch for what the script lets her do, but the effect is real: she has warmth, and she holds the screen.

She also has good chemistry with Foxx. When their scenes are viewed alone, the movie is not bad. Foxx plays Stacks as a stiff, defensive man who is slowly disarmed, and the early father-and-daughter moments are the most successful in the film. The trouble starts when the story leaves them.

Cameron Diaz and Rose Byrne

Cameron Diaz in Annie is so large that she seems to be in another film. Her energy suits the musical numbers somewhat, but when she plays dialogue scenes at the same pitch, she comes across like someone staging a school play, not acting in a studio picture. The performance is the most obvious weakness and it is the one the marketing was already warning about.

The more surprising problem is Byrne. She is usually a dependable comic presence, and the memory of her in other roles makes her work here more puzzling. Like Foxx, she plays the material straight and goes for realism, but the film needs a performer who can slide naturally into a musical number, and she appears uncomfortable with the singing and dancing the role requires. Whether the cause is the direction or the casting, there are moments when she is hard to watch. It is a case where a talented actor ends up out of her element. The sympathetic reading is that the material gave her nothing to hold, and a fair reviewer will separate a performer's range from the part she was handed.

Annie 2014 verdict: the songs, the tone and who it is for

Product placement deserves its own line. The film's contemporary setting gives it constant opportunities to feature phones, apps and brand names, and it takes them. In a story about a billionaire in the phone business, that is partly justified. It still pulls the eye away from the characters, and the early scenes read more like a catalogue than a neighborhood. The original film's Depression backdrop made a sentimental story feel earned. The remake's version of hardship is a bright foster apartment and a few shabby corners.

The new songs are the film's other major flaw. The updated versions of the classics are a welcome change, and they are the closest the film comes to the sparkle of earlier versions. The additions are forgettable, and none of them gives the movie a number that people will leave humming. A musical lives on its songs, and a remake that cannot supply any is working at a disadvantage.

Parents will feel it more than children. Younger viewers may be entertained, provided they can sit still for the length, and the movie has a bright, busy surface that holds a child's eye. For the adults who have to sit through it, the experience is slow. The most generous description is that it is harmless, a bright holiday movie that children may enjoy and adults will forget by January. The least generous is that it forgets what it is making.

The sad part is that the pieces were there. A charming lead, a funny premise for a modern update and a cast with a track record of good work could have added up to something. The movie misses because it is unsure whether it wants to be a satire, a sincere family musical or a vehicle for its stars, and in trying to be all three it manages none. Viewers who love the 1982 film will find little here to change their minds, and anyone hoping for a new standard will leave empty-handed. Viewers who have never seen any version may find the first half acceptable and the second half long.

The Cameron Diaz Annie question has a plain answer: she is miscast and overdirected, but she is not alone. The final verdict is simple: skip the remake and watch the earlier film or the stage show. If a child insists on this version, enjoy Wallis, stay for the one or two good songs, and plan on a calmer evening afterward.

Sources

• Annie (2014 film), Wikipedia — cast and crew, release date and plot