Annie (1982, Musical)

Ralph Burns and Charles Strouse. There were songs written fundamentally for the movie like "Dumb Dog", which shows Anne displaying a pessimistic attitude, which is very uncharacteristic of her personality. The Oscar-winning director, John Huston, furthered his vision for this production by having Burns and Strouse create "Let's Go to the Movies" and "We Got Annie" to showcase Ann Reinking's dancing abilities. However, if one desired, every scene of this movie could be analyzed to show how this film has been irriatingly destroyed from the original stage production.

Maybe, "destroyed" is a bit harsh, but really the closing scenes were absolutely ridiculous! Hold on, Annie gets rescued by the newly-created character, Puinjab, as he is lowered from a helicopter... wait... the helicopter was not invented yet. And the villain turns out to be this heroic lady on top of an elephant! We finally have a tap dance at the end, but the audience has already made its analysis, and it is too late!

Now that I have torn this movie apart, I have to mention some positive qualities. The theme song, "Tomorrow" has always been inspirational to me. Whenever trials come, and they continually come, I always remind myself that "tomorrow is only a day away." Carol Burnett is absolutely hilarious as she comically portrays the evil Miss Hannigan in "Little Girls" and "Sign." Burnett is sensational! However, I still can't get over Hollywood making her into one of the heroines in the end as she fights with her brother in order to save Annie's life. Come on! As you can probably tell, I have seen the actual stage production, and I prefer it. :-) Still, one should enjoy this phenomenal music and entertaining choreography. The gymnastic sequences are amazing!