Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! A John Huston musical?! A lot of people will find it lacking because he's working well outside his genre, and well after his great classics, but Annie is a lot of fun and shows the kind of care one associates with a director of his reputation. Look at any production number in the film - and it really doesn't skimp on them, there's more singing than talking overall, and largely memorable - and you'll find lots of background gags and dancing tuned to comedy moments. The little girls doing big Broadway choreography is impressive too. Now of course, Annie is very much a kids' picture, with an engaging, spunky 10-year-old lead, a cute dog, and adult luminaries playing VERY broad caricatures. That doesn't bother me in a reality as heightened as a musical's, but what does is the weird political content peppered throughout. The movie keeps talking about Republicans and Democrats and Daddy Warbucks is, at least initially, a benign parody of a war profiteer, and I know some have levelled the criticism that the story's moral is that money (and therefore capitalism) solves everything. I don't think this is fair, since Annie (and Roosevelt) transform Warbucks into a philanthropist and money is shown to be the root of Hannigan and co.'s evil. It's just leaning into the Depression era's rags to riches fantasies, as per the movies of the era and of course, the Little Orphan Annie strip. At least, presumably. Maybe all this strange content was in the comic strip, I don't know. Regardless, where Annie fails, if it fails, is in the calibration of kid and adult moments (though you won't here me complain about Carol Burnett's performance of an unhinged horny drunk).
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punchingseagulls
This film has been added to the Oscar and Razzie Nominated Films ListEmmaRidvana
i love this movie<3Siskoid
Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! A John Huston musical?! A lot of people will find it lacking because he's working well outside his genre, and well after his great classics, but Annie is a lot of fun and shows the kind of care one associates with a director of his reputation. Look at any production number in the film - and it really doesn't skimp on them, there's more singing than talking overall, and largely memorable - and you'll find lots of background gags and dancing tuned to comedy moments. The little girls doing big Broadway choreography is impressive too. Now of course, Annie is very much a kids' picture, with an engaging, spunky 10-year-old lead, a cute dog, and adult luminaries playing VERY broad caricatures. That doesn't bother me in a reality as heightened as a musical's, but what does is the weird political content peppered throughout. The movie keeps talking about Republicans and Democrats and Daddy Warbucks is, at least initially, a benign parody of a war profiteer, and I know some have levelled the criticism that the story's moral is that money (and therefore capitalism) solves everything. I don't think this is fair, since Annie (and Roosevelt) transform Warbucks into a philanthropist and money is shown to be the root of Hannigan and co.'s evil. It's just leaning into the Depression era's rags to riches fantasies, as per the movies of the era and of course, the Little Orphan Annie strip. At least, presumably. Maybe all this strange content was in the comic strip, I don't know. Regardless, where Annie fails, if it fails, is in the calibration of kid and adult moments (though you won't here me complain about Carol Burnett's performance of an unhinged horny drunk).Nickhowe
I'm amazed this isn't on more lists! This movie rockshalcain
One of my favorites as a kid, and I still love it today!GigerPunk
No it's not, Jorislcl. It really isn't. It's irritatingly easy in fact.MrE2Me
This was my sister's favorite movie when we were kids. I don't recall it being so bad...heck, it's directed by John Huston!