Hard knock life for Annie
Bakang Israel | Friday February 6, 2015 13:59
This year we rekindle that fun and laughter spark with a classic musical comedy, Annie. This film is a 2014 American musical comedy-drama film directed by Will Gluck.
Gluck is a young innovative director who is synonymous for giving us similar comedies like Friends With Benefits (2011) and Fired Up (2009) amongst others. However, his latest offering Annie is a contemporary adaptation of the 1977 Broadway musical of the same name, which was in turn based upon the 1924 comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray.
This is the third film remake of Annie, following Columbia’s 1982 theatrical film and Disney’s 1999 made-for-television film.
What is great about this Annie is that it is refreshed with some familiar faces, makes it relevant to the young generation and gives one of the urge to watch the film.
Funny man Jamie Foxx is in the thick of things playing the rich Will Stacks who is running for New York mayor. Foxx, a one-time Oscar award winner thrilled us before in movies like Collateral 2004 and Django Unchained 2012.
For supporting act, we see young and emerging star Quvenzhané Wallis, youngest-ever Oscar nominee, playing the title role as orphan. The film co-stars Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, and Cameron Diaz. One of the positive things to look out for in Annie, is the music. Is has fascinating arrangement of songs. Annie compares with other musical comedies like Fired Up and High School Musical, even though it is a bit more serious with compelling drama.
It is also made interesting by characters of some of the major lead actors; for instance, it was my first time to see Cameron Diaz playing a sluggish role of an irresponsible woman as the mean Miss Hannigan.
Watch Annie and you might also get a meaningful life lesson, this comedy is perhaps a bit engaging in the sense that it gives you as a viewer something to think about. Just to give you a snippet. In Annie we see the wealthy Mr Stacks realising that there are more important things than wealth and popularity, this happens after he meets the little homeless girl Annie, proving that even the rich can have conscience.
This funny musical drama is driven by themes of moral dilemmas, poverty, class divisions that put the characters in conflict with themselves, others, society and even natural phenomena.
Annie is a bundle of joy simply because it is a combination of multiple genres being musical, comedy, family and drama hence it caters for everyone. In a nutshell the character Annie is portrayed as this beautiful little 10 to 12-year-old girl hopelessly lost within the New York City (NYC) foster care child programme. She is smart, tough and bright enough to survive the fast-paced streets.
Forced to stay with her mean foster mother, Miss Hannigan, Annie somehow manages to tough-it-out in Harlem. One day she accidentally and literally runs into the wealthy billionaire and NYC Mayoral candidate, Will Stacks.
Saving her from almost being hit by a car (while simultaneously being videotaped by an unknown passerby) Stacks and his political team decide to use the life-saving incident to boost his polls for the upcoming NYC election. Taking Annie into his penthouse home, Stacks begins to fall ‘head-over-heels’ for the adorable little Annie.
Meanwhile, Annie only has one hope and that is for her parents to someday come back and rescue her from the foster care programme. Overall it was a nice Jamie Foxx performance.
Looking at the box office reception, for a movie that had a huge budget of $65 million, the film has amassed just $84 million, suggesting a negative response in theatres. Annie is on its first week in Botswana, after its release on December 19, 2014 worldwide.
For being an amazing viewing experience Annie deserves a 6/10 rating.
Movie: AnnieGenre: Musical, Comedy, Family, DramaDuration: 1hours 58 minutesAge Restriction: PG Release Date: 30th January Director: Will GluckMain Cast: Jamie Foxx as (Will Stacks), Quvenzhané Wallis (Annie), Cameron Diaz (Hannigan) and Rose Byrne (Grace)