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Review: 'Annie' makeover is adorably different (w/video)

 
Wealthy candidate Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx) figures Annie (Quvenzhané Wallis) can help his campaign.
Wealthy candidate Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx) figures Annie (Quvenzhané Wallis) can help his campaign.
Published Dec. 22, 2014

The first face on screen is the Annie to whom we're accustomed: carrot-haired, freckled and white. "Annie A.," to classmates ignoring her corny show and tell. Might be an orphan but not for long with that chipperness.

"Annie B." follows, with a fresher vibe; natural on top, hip-hop frisky and black, a foster child with a hard-knock life closer to Jay-Z's hook than Broadway's book. As played by Golden Globe nominee Quvenzhané Wallis, the new Annie is streetwise and PR savvy, a waif on the make.

It's a different adorable for a role overdue for a makeover, if not exactly what director/co-writer Will Gluck has in mind.

Gluck's update is a bum rush to relevance, changing more than ethnicity to yank a sentimental story into the 21st century. "Daddy Warbucks" isn't a heroic name these days, so the tycoon saving Annie — and the other way around — is Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx), a cell phone mogul running for mayor of New York.

Taking Annie into his smart penthouse is a cynical campaign stunt, along with endless photo ops (museum galas are Will's style, not feeding the homeless), and social media blasts. The original's New Deal optimism is now news cycle cynicism, keeping it real when fantasy is the whole idea. Annie knows the ropes and how to pull them, keeping Will's advisers (Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale) on their dancing toes.

Musically, the movie ditches some of Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin's songs, adds a couple (the undistinguished Opportunity is a Golden Globe nominee), and peps up the rest with upswing beats. The centerpiece is Tomorrow (duh), matching Annie's hopefulness with window reflections of how she envisions family joy. It is Gluck's interpretive peak, in a movie generally uninterested in choreography.

Wallis, 11, isn't a belter like previous singers in the role but she's pleasant on the ears. Certainly this role demands more concentration and execution than her precocious, Oscar nominated debut in Beasts of the Southern Wild. Mostly Wallis is up to the task, radiating charm without pushing it. Beasts wasn't a fluke; the camera loves this kid.

When Wallis isn't on screen, Annie isn't nearly as much fun, especially Cameron Diaz's drunken pratfalls and screeched song-threats (Little Girls is the movie's low point). Foxx is the only bona fide singer among the leads, and smartly keeps Will understated. Byrne and Cannavale are charming as necessary, and not bad musical performers. The scene stealer is Stephanie Kurtzuba as a child services official as knocked out as Annie by Will's wealth.

In a holiday season when family movie entertainment is in short supply, Annie is bubbly enough to suit the purpose while irritating purists wonder where their orphan went. At times it's actually a lot of fun, and leapin' lizards the sun really does come out tomorrow. Right after the helicopter chase.

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Contact Steve Persall at spersall@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8365. Follow @StevePersall.