Actors: Alicia Morton, Victor Garber, Kathy Bates, Audra McDonald, Alan Cummings, Kristen Chenowith
Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Annie
Annie is a 10-year-old red-haired orphan girl living in an orphanage where she is subjected to the horrible rule of Miss Hannigan, the drunken woman who runs the orphanage.
Being an orphan is sad and lonely; it's a "hard-knock life," after all, and Annie dreams of being reunited with her mother and father who left her at the orphanage when she was a baby, leaving her a locket as her only remnant of their memory.
But Annie's luck seems to turn around when she is selected to stay at the mansion of the extremely wealthy (and seemingly cold-hearted) Oliver Warbucks. Over time, he grows fond of Annie and decides that he wants to adopt her for good. But Annie only wishes to find her parents. So, Mr. Warbucks decides to use his wealth to try to find Annie's parents by offering a cash reward for their discovery.
Dozens of phonies show up claiming to be Annie's real parents, hoping to win the reward, but none of them know about the locket that was left to her.
Until, Miss Hannigan's conniving brother Rooster and his wife Lily concoct a horrible scheme. Using Miss Hannigan's knowledge of the locket, Rooster and Lily convincingly pose as Annie's long-lost parents and pocket the check--and take Annie with them.
Will Mr. Warbucks being able to get Annie back before it's too late?
--Sarah Bastin, Resident Scholar
Based on the Broadway musical, Annie is the story of an orphan searching for a family. Raised in an orphanage, Annie has reason to believe that her parents are still alive. She runs away from the cruel Miss Hannigan in order to find them.
Her recapture by Miss Hannigan coincides with the visit of the secretary of Mr. Warbucks, a millionaire. He would like to temporarily adopt an orphan to boost his image. More to annoy Miss Hannigan than anything else, the secretary chooses to take Annie.
Although initially stand-offish, Warbucks soon begins to warm up to Annie, and quickly comes to love her like a daughter. However, Annie still believes she belongs with her birth parents. At the same time, Miss Hannigan and her crooked brother would like to exploit the Warbucks situation to their benefit.
--Steph, Resident Scholar
This is a story about a young girl who live in a orphanage, but she still believes her parents are alive and she is determined to find them. She runaway constantly and stay in trouble with the lady of the house, Ms. Hannigan, and just as Ms. Hannigan is about to punish Annie for running away agin Mr. Warbuck's assistant comes to her rescue by telling Ms. Hannigan that Mr. Warbuck is looking to take a child into his house for a few weeks.
When Mr. Warbuck finds out she is a girl he wasn't to pleased with that, but he soon starts to love the little red-head girl. Mr. Warbuck loves Annie so much he wants to officially adopt her, but Annie still believes her parents are alive and decline the offer. Mr. Warbuck loving the girl so much he puts up a reward to Annie real parents for 50,000. No sooner then he said this hundreds of people started to claim the girl. While Ms. Hannigan knew that Annie parents were dead she already no that the whole thing is a lost cause until, her brother and his dumb blond girlfriend come up with a plan to get their money, since they know about the broken necklace that the little girl wears around her neck that her parents gave to her before her death.
--Naziyah, Resident Scholar
Annie (Aileen Quinn) lives in a rundown orphanage managed by Miss Hannigan (Carol Burnett), who hates little girls. Miss Hannigan works the girls from dawn to dusk and locks them in the closet when they misbehave. Living at the orphanage is pretty bad, but living on the street during the Great Depression is worse. But Annie doesn't let her circumstances get her down, she knows that she has loving parents out there somewhere and she is determined to find them. After getting caught escaping again, Miss Hannigan is determined to punish her, but Annie is rescued by Grace Farrell (Ann Reinking), Oliver Warbucks' (Albert Finney) private secretary. Turns out that Mr. Warbucks hosts an orphan in his home every year and this year Grace decided that he needed to host a girl. Mr. Warbucks soon finds his home and his life turned upside down by this lovable girl and her sunshiny disposition, but Annie still believes that her parents are out there somewhere and may give up her one chance at happiness to find them...
This is by far my favorite version of Annie and I adore most of the songs that are in it. It is true that they changed the story from the musical and left out a couple of songs, but they just kind of took out all of the political stuff, which most children wouldn't understand anyway. Annie definitely has the feeling of the Great Depression era though, especially through the costumes, which are very dingy and dull looking.
--Debbie, Resident Scholar
The classic story of the little redheaded orphan. The little orphan Annie gets the chance to spend a week at Oliver Warbuck's amazing mansion and naturally, Warbucks wants to adopt Annie. Annie though, wants to find her real parents, and she is convinced that they are still alive. Miss Hannigan, her brother, and his dim-witted girlfriend come up with a plan to be Annie's fake parents and get the 50000 dollars. In the end they are caught and eventually, Warbucks adopts Annie.
--Jessica , Resident Scholar
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Analysis of Annie
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Comedy, primarily
Yes
Time/era of movie:
- 1930's-1950's
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Kids:
- poverty story
- runaways!
Kind of comedy
- musical
Parent(s) gone?
- Orphan story
How much humor v. drama
- Mostly humor, but some serious drama
Age group
- trouble in grade school
Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Profession/status:
- student
Age:
- a kid
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- red
Hair type
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn curly
Body type
- (woman) skinny
Events of movie makes character more...
- happy
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- bald
Hair style
- (man) bald
Body type
- (man) average build
How much in movie?
- 60%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Female
Age:
- 40's-50's
Eccentric:
Yes
- eccentric
- emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 40%
Hair color
- red
Hair type
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn curly
Body type
- (woman) skinny
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Dumb
- Average intelligence
Physique
- druggie/wino disease
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
- wealthy
Misc setting
- fancy mansion
- school
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel...
- very happy
Any profanity?
- None
If lots of song/dance...
- lot of singing and dancing
If this is a kid's movie...
- Ages 5-10
If soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Broadway musical
Is this movie based on a
- play
