(no subject)
Just got back from taking the boys to see Annie. OMG- ADORABLE.
Annie was my sister's Very Favorite Movie when we were young, and I loved it, too. We had the record and played it over and over, and I actually took great joy in buying my niece Annie on DVD when she was three. (My sister's favorite present I've ever given her daughter, I suspect, and probably over this year's gift of a guitar :) ) But despite it being a very beloved childhood movie, when they announced a remake my reaction wasn't "NO! IT'S A CLASSIC!" but "SWEET!!!!"
I'm not sure what it is about Annie that made me leap towards a remake. I think part of it is Aileen Quinn, and how child actors used to act and how children were presented in the time when the first movie was made. 1982!Annie always struck me as too... precocious? Perfect? Perky? I don't know, but I don't know that I connected with her as much. But I really, really liked Quvenzhane' Wallis's Annie. There was a little more vulnerability there, maybe? I think we could see more how her Annie used her sass as a defense mechanism, both against outward enemies and sadness. I also liked that she immediately caught on to what Stacks was doing and was willing to play along, but also that that was as far as her political savvy went.
Jamie Foxx >>>>>>>> Albert Finney. Sorry. No contest.
The most difficult role for me in terms of comparison was Miss Hannigan. Because while I like Cameron Diaz, she has to live in the shadow of Carol Burnett. They did a good job of making her different, and I was mostly okay with her, but she just wasn't Carol Burnett. And Easy Street... there's just no way to cover a song done by Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, and Tim Curry. Sorry. You're doomed before you start. But they did what they could to make her different, and it worked well enough.
It kept driving me crazy that I knew Nash from somewhere. Mr. Eko in LOST, not a surprise. Simon Adebesi from OZ? This terrible revelation is second only to the same guy playing Vern Schillinger and Tenzin. Okay, maybe also the same guy playing Derise Bannock in Cool Runnings and Jefferson Keane. Oz is freaking me out on this whole thing here.
The music was decent, but I found the closer they stayed to the original, the more I liked it. I did like the song they added for Jamie Foxx, but I didn't like the Opportunity song Annie sang at the benefit. I would have preferred it if they left that as Tomorrow. Maybe made me cry a little, and I did like the updated Hard Knock Life, but I do think the old Molly did a much better job imitating Miss Hannigan than the new Molly did :) I didn't really like the techno version of I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here, and I missed You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile being more complete.
Overall, huge hit with me. The kids seemed to really like it, although with Toby it seems to depend on who's asking him. Trevor's been in a phase where he gets scared at movies, so Annie was a good one because they got rid of the bridge chase of doom, and there's nothing else scary in Annie. It was just a lovely, lovely movie, and I think I like the new one just as much as the old one, but in different ways.
And now to go find versions of both movies' songs on Youtube....
Annie was my sister's Very Favorite Movie when we were young, and I loved it, too. We had the record and played it over and over, and I actually took great joy in buying my niece Annie on DVD when she was three. (My sister's favorite present I've ever given her daughter, I suspect, and probably over this year's gift of a guitar :) ) But despite it being a very beloved childhood movie, when they announced a remake my reaction wasn't "NO! IT'S A CLASSIC!" but "SWEET!!!!"
I'm not sure what it is about Annie that made me leap towards a remake. I think part of it is Aileen Quinn, and how child actors used to act and how children were presented in the time when the first movie was made. 1982!Annie always struck me as too... precocious? Perfect? Perky? I don't know, but I don't know that I connected with her as much. But I really, really liked Quvenzhane' Wallis's Annie. There was a little more vulnerability there, maybe? I think we could see more how her Annie used her sass as a defense mechanism, both against outward enemies and sadness. I also liked that she immediately caught on to what Stacks was doing and was willing to play along, but also that that was as far as her political savvy went.
Jamie Foxx >>>>>>>> Albert Finney. Sorry. No contest.
The most difficult role for me in terms of comparison was Miss Hannigan. Because while I like Cameron Diaz, she has to live in the shadow of Carol Burnett. They did a good job of making her different, and I was mostly okay with her, but she just wasn't Carol Burnett. And Easy Street... there's just no way to cover a song done by Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, and Tim Curry. Sorry. You're doomed before you start. But they did what they could to make her different, and it worked well enough.
It kept driving me crazy that I knew Nash from somewhere. Mr. Eko in LOST, not a surprise. Simon Adebesi from OZ? This terrible revelation is second only to the same guy playing Vern Schillinger and Tenzin. Okay, maybe also the same guy playing Derise Bannock in Cool Runnings and Jefferson Keane. Oz is freaking me out on this whole thing here.
The music was decent, but I found the closer they stayed to the original, the more I liked it. I did like the song they added for Jamie Foxx, but I didn't like the Opportunity song Annie sang at the benefit. I would have preferred it if they left that as Tomorrow. Maybe made me cry a little, and I did like the updated Hard Knock Life, but I do think the old Molly did a much better job imitating Miss Hannigan than the new Molly did :) I didn't really like the techno version of I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here, and I missed You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile being more complete.
Overall, huge hit with me. The kids seemed to really like it, although with Toby it seems to depend on who's asking him. Trevor's been in a phase where he gets scared at movies, so Annie was a good one because they got rid of the bridge chase of doom, and there's nothing else scary in Annie. It was just a lovely, lovely movie, and I think I like the new one just as much as the old one, but in different ways.
And now to go find versions of both movies' songs on Youtube....