While not exactly an orphan – more a foster kid – Annie waits each Friday night outside a Brooklyn diner for her parents to show up but they never do. Enter billionaire tycoon, Will Stacks, who needs some cred for his mayoral ambitions. It’s a match made in heaven and as the polls go up his frosty heart slowly thaws.
Everything gets and update in this remake of a perennial favourite including new songs and even a last ditch rescue by social media. Too many songs are overproduced – read auto tuned – but the gawky dance numbers are endearing.
Quvenzhane Wallis and Jamie Foxx somehow keep this from being overly sentimental and the whole cast make you care. Foster mother Cameron Diaz does menace unconvincingly and finds her heart by the end.
Kids – especially those used to syndicated talent shows – will eat this up.
*** 1/2
