It’s impossible to talk about “Annie” without admitting upfront when you first experienced John Huston’s 1982 film.
For adults at the time, it was a spectacular disaster, thanks in large part to the bizarre direction of Huston. For kids, one of whom was me, it might as well be up there with “The Sound of Music” as a musical classic. This is why kids don’t write movie reviews. But then it often wouldn’t even occur to them that the movie they’re watching is bad.
In that way, perhaps this new version of “Annie” is the update we all deserve: a flawed movie that kids will inexplicably take to. But, with such a wealth of innovative and heartfelt family fare in both the animated and live-action realms, why bother?
This new 'Annie' is a charmless and grossly materialistic bore.
