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| Quvenzhané Wallis stars in Annie |
Swallow Your Shrimp Annie
Rotten Tomatoes Plot: A Broadway classic that has delighted audiences for generations comes to the big screen with a new, contemporary vision in Columbia Pictures' comedy, Annie. Director/Producer/Screenwriter Will Gluck teams with producers James Lassiter, Will Smith & Jada Pinkett Smith, and Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Laurence "Jay" Brown, and Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith with a modern telling that captures the magic of the classic characters and original show that won seven Tony Awards. Celia Costas serves as Executive Producer. 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.
"Do you think the world wants a smart-mouth little girl?" Probably less than it wants the incredibly phony Annie (the movie, not über-likable Wallis.) Foxx is a joy to watch (as always) but gets lost in this "Don't Worry, Be Happy" feel-for all. Wouldn't it be great if all orphans could go and live with a billionaire? Annie proclaims, "I think I'm gonna like it here." Pretty Woman would like it here; yet alone some precocious 10-year-old, who sees every glass half-full. Way too much singing (including Diaz and Foxx) and over-the-top
Grade: D (Even less without Foxx.)
