Musical-theater purists can be almost as fussy as “Star Wars” fanatics, so expect a certain amount of kvetching with the new film version of “Annie.”
The beloved 1977 Broadway show gets a thorough re-working, with re-written lyrics, funked-up music, and a time-shift to the present day. (The original was a Depression-era fable from the popular comic strip, complete with cameo by Franklin Roosevelt.)
It’s going to get lambasted, but the new “Annie” is actually kind of fun on its own terms, with a rapid-fire pace and actors who aren’t afraid to be silly.
The role of Annie usually goes to girls who sound as though they’ve swallowed Ethel Merman’s trumpet, but here the part is played by soft-voiced Quvenzhané Wallis, the kid from “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” Annie’s no longer a little orphan, but a foster child, raised in a Harlem group home by the booze-swilling Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz).
The campaign managers (Rose Byrne and Bobby Canavale) of a billionaire mayoral candidate named Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx, in good form) determine that this child would look great in pictures with their guy. So Annie becomes the ward of the workaholic tycoon, and you know where it goes from there.
The story line has been changed around, and some songs and characters trimmed, but we still hear the plaintive throb of “Tomorrow” and the kicky fun of “It’s the Hard Knock Life.” They’re just … re-arranged a little. The film’s producers include Jay-Z, who made a memorably weird hip hop mashup out of “Hard Knock Life” some years ago.
The movie gets messier as it goes along, but the actors are peppy and a sense of goodwill pervades — even mean Miss Hannigan is revealed to be misunderstood.
Director and co-screenwriter Will Gluck showed his antic talents in “Easy A” and “Fired Up,” and he keeps this film popping along with in-jokes and non sequiturs. He doesn’t display a particular gift for musical numbers, but then neither did John Huston in the odd 1982 movie adaptation.
Gluck’s comic touch also keeps this film a little too zany to nail the Broadway show’s bet-your-bottom-dollar sentimentality, so the purists will have a point there.
On the other hand, you’d have to really go out of your way to complain about the fact that the show’s two biggest roles have been given to black actors — but if you check the comments sections for online references to the film, you’ll find plenty of people going out of their way. Sigh. Tomorrow is only a day away, right?
“Annie” (2½ stars)
An updated version of the beloved 1977 Broadway musical, with Quvenzhané Wallis as the kid adopted by a billionaire (Jamie Foxx). Purists will strongly disapprove of the changes, but the film’s actually got a fun spirit, even if it gets messier as it goes along. With Cameron Diaz.
Rating: PG, for subject matter
Showing: Alderwood Mall, Everett Stadium, Galaxy Monroe, Marysville, Stanwood Cinemas, Meridian, Thornton Place Stadium 14, Varsity, Woodinville, Cascade Mall, Oak Harbor Plaza.
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