Disc Reviews

Annie Review

• 28th Apr 2015

With thirty two years between the original version and this Jay Z, Will and Jada (Pinkett) Smith produced version expectations were high that the updated version of Annie could be hugely different to the 1982 original but it takes a while for the differences to really show.

Out goes the moniker of orphan, Annie is a foster kid, not an orphan and there’s no more Daddy Warbucks. In his place is the germaphobic, mobile phone giant Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx) who happens to be campaigning to become Mayor of New York and what does every good political campaign need? A brilliant PR stunt of course and what better way to boost your ratings than save a child from getting hit by a car and then taking her to live in your sprawling apartment even though you actually hate everyone and just want to be alone.

Quvenzhané Wallis (12 Years A Slave) is a lot less annoying than she has the potential to be as Annie. Foxx (Django Unchained, White House Down) plays his part brilliantly and Cameron Diaz (Bad Teacher, Sex Tape) is surprisingly good as Hannigan. However, they aren’t the stand out parts of this film. The best moments have to be the cameo by Michael J Fox in the campaign video for Stack’s rival, Harold Gray (Peter Van Wagner) and the really cheesy film about the fish people they go to the premiere of starring Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher and Rhianna.

We know Jay Z is more used to producing records than he is films so he must have felt that he was easing himself in with so many iconic songs ready and waiting for him to reimagine and remix. It took a while but after Tomorrow and Hard Knock Life he threw the songbook out the window and started again using just the bare bones of the existing tunes, even throwing in a few new songs for good measure.

Annie is, as it always has been, a fun watch and this version tidies up all the rough edges of the 1982 version and throws in some overproduced songs and super slick dance sequences too.

Annie is released on DVD and Blu-ray on 27^th April 2015.

Laura Johnson