Annie

The perennial musical favorite "Annie" has had many incarnations. It's almost as anticipated during the holidays as "The Nutcracker." Many children have grown-up with this musical, and movie lovers are familiar with the 1982 adaptation, if for no other reason, because it features the divine comic talent of Carol Burnett. Most of all, the song "Tomorrow" still competes as one of the most well-known anthems of the American stage.

The rags-to-riches little orphan, who started out in a newspaper comic strip, has once again come to the screen, but this time she's been transported from the Depression Era into the 21st Century. And this glitzy, technology-driven production proves that the music of Charles Strouse and the lyrics of Martin Charnin will endure in the minds of children for years to come. The question is: How will the rest of this reworking fare?

Director Will Gluck's "Annie" banks a lot on the fact that it is up-to-the-minute modern. Daddy Warbucks has been replaced (since WWI was an awfully long time ago) with Will Stacks a germaphobic, cellphone manufacturing titan. (Jamie Foxx is a triple threat as this contemporary billionaire who's not afraid to express his feelings, even if most of his feeling are neuroses.) Stacks is on an all-out campaign to become the next mayor of New York, and he doesn't want to complicate that with anything messy like relationships. Of course, this is when the little optimist Annie (played by Academy Award nominee Quvenzhane Wallis) enters his life.

Annie is a foster kid under the care of the deadbeat Miss Hannigan. One of the best choices in this movie was to cast this classic antagonist with the amazing comic talent Cameron Diaz. She really can't sing to save her life (even though aspirations to be a singer are an important part of her character in this version), but she is so hilarious that she makes this film enjoyable for audiences of all ages.

Both Annie and Stacks collaborate to hustle the people of New York. Annie will get a great place to live while she hunts down her parents, and Stacks can show the public that he's not as uptight as they think. This takes them on a journey through smart houses and helicopter/car chases throughout the Big Apple.

One thing this film does very well is celebrate the beauty and majesty of New York City. There's no song about it in this version, but the cinematography revels in everything from the skyline, to the subway and the inner city textures.

If you need to keep your kids occupied for a while, let them go nuts on the plethora of special features this Blu-ray + DVD combo pack has to offer. There are no less than 5 sing-along tracks; four of them are songs from the original musical and one is the Golden Globe nominated "Opportunity." You get to see a deleted song, bloopers edited to "It's the Hard Knock Life," a day on the set with Annie, a look at acting camp for the movie's foster kids, a music video and a making-of featurette. And that's not even half of it.

"Annie"
Blu-ray Combo Pack
Rated PG / 118 minutes
Annie-Movie.com