|
|
|
|
Order this DVD from Amazon.com
|
Annie
Special Anniversary Edition
(Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment)
|
| DVD Release Date:
|
January 13, 2004
|
| Length:
|
127 mins.
|
| Rated:
|
G
|
| Format:
|
Full Screen (1.33:1)
|
| Audio:
|
English DTS, English Dolby Digital, Spanish Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround
|
| Subtitles:
|
English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Closed Captioned
|
| Extras:
|
My Hollywood Adventure with Aileen Quinn, Activities (The Age of Annie, Sing Along with Annie!, Act Along with Annie!), Musical Performance by Play: "It's The Hard Knock Life", Trailers
|
All my life, I've heard about Annie - and frankly, I've never really cared. People sing the film's songs like they're required knowledge. I've never bothered to learn them. I've never even bothered to check out the cartoon. I'm more of a Peanuts kinda guy. But, when I was offered the opportunity to check out the Special Anniversary Edition of Annie, I thought I'd bite the bullet and see what all the fuss was about.
In Annie, our titular hero (played by Aileen Quinn) is an orphan with spunk who dreams of one day meeting her real parents. She sings. She dances. Overall, she's a pretty fun orphan - not the real image you think of when you think of depression-era orphans. But, it's a musical. Give it a break. Anyways, Annie lives in an orphanage under the tough thumb of Miss Hannigan (Carol Burnett), the loser who runs the joint. After Annie makes an attempt at an escape, she's locked in Miss Hannigan's closet and happens to be there when a representative of the world's seemingly richest man, "Daddy" Warbucks (Albert Finney), comes looking for an orphan to spend the week with the billionaire. (Keep in mind these were the days before Michael Jackson.) So, Annie spends some time with Warbucks, manages to find a place in his heart, survives a kidnapping attempt, discovers the truth about her parents and sings and dances her way happily ever after.
The movie is okay. It's 20 years old, so it's tough to judge. A lot of the content would be changed for today's audience. And with all the remakes in Hollywood these days, I'm surprised we haven't seen them dig up this story yet. But, despite the fact that it's dated, the performances and the song and dance numbers were decent. I guess you could say they were about what I expected. It didn't make me rush out to read some Annie comic strips, but it was time I didn't mind investing.
For a "Special Anniversary Edition", there certainly isn't a lot that's special about the features on this DVD. The quality is there, but there isn't the quantity that would warrant a "Special Edition" title. First, we get a featurette titled "My Hollywood Adventure with Aileen Quinn". Here's we meet the grown up Annie, and hear her thoughs on being selected for the role (apparently it was a big production back in the day) making the movie and various memories about being Annie. This is a fun little feature. A quick look at her career, and you'll see she hasn't really done much other than Annie - and if you met her on the street, you probably wouldn't recognize her, but you've gotta give her credit. For the size of the production, the pressure of the role and the talent she had to work with, she seemed to handle it pretty well.
Next up are some "Annie" activities, including a look at "The Age of Annie" which is a little trivia game about the depression and the times that Annie lived in. Other activities include a "Sing Along with Annie!" karaoke-style feature, and an "Act Along with Annie!" feature where you can practice to become a movie star, along with a couple of scenes from the film. (Although, since Aileen Quinn didn't really go anywhere after "Annie", do you really want to take her acting advice?)
For the film's last feature, we get an exclusive musical performance of "It's The Hard-Knock Life" by pop group Play. Between you and me, this is the kind of thing I'd expect to see on a Disney DVD, and it did nothing but cheapen the quality of the features here. Finally, there are trailers for some family titles from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.
So, if you're a fan of Annie, check this one out. Or, if you're curious about the whole Annie phenomena, you might want to rent this one. Or, if you couldn't be bothered, you can wait - maybe someday there'll be a remake.
| The Movie: |
   |
3.5/10 |
| The Extras: |
|
3/10 |
|
|
|
What did you think?
Have your say on our Message Boards...
Liam Cullin - Editor
More Reviews - Click Here
|
|
|
|
|
