Annie 2014 movie review *spoiler alert*

*Spoiler alert* I was anticipating this movie more than Fifty Shades of Grey and I am fully disappointed. Adaptations can be tricky but come on, this was hasty work.

Let's talk about casting for a second. The only exception of stardom was the one who wasn't a star to start with, Quvenzhane Wallis was as great as a kid actress could be with a great voice, and her own swag. Jamie Foxx can sing, but he sure can't act or pretend to cry, I guess that's how he got away winning an oscar for being Ray Charles, always hiding his eyes behind shades. But I'll give him credit he can sing and kinda dance. Don't get me wrong I love Rose Byrne especially in Wicker Park, but she ain't no singer or dancer, and that's basically what her role requires. Cameron Diaz you'd think would be perfect for her role as the washed-up actress, but same thing, she can't sing. Her little Easy-Street dancing scene, a de ja vu of her break out movie The Mask was pretty good. But other than that, she was uninspiring.

This is a musical so let's talk about the songs. Okay bringing back the classics...that was done semi well, it wasn't a perfect job but I'll accept it. But what is with the original songs? Absolutely prosaic to the point where I felt this was worse than a production done by amateurs. What happened to Hollywood?

What happened to Hollywood? Well they spelt this out in the movie quite literally and explicitly for us: is that it's dominated by advertisements, in this case technology selling itself. They explicitly had a scene for this! I don't know whether to laugh at that or not. Okay and the cameos? I can probably accept that Katy Perry tweet, but come on, Ashton and Mila in a Twilight wana-be with Rihanna as the creeping villian?

I seriously don't know what the director was thinking of through the entire production. I was surprised to know he directed Easy A, which despite wasn't the most amazing movie was actually better than this (and that says a lot). I think he should stick to the Michael J. Fox show, I thought that was a good show.

This is like the quiet time for movies. The oscar buzz is gone, valentines day has passed and summer is not here for the animations yet. And sadly my last option is to wait for the uncensored version of Fifty Shades, life is "so good".