Full disclosure: I have a very strong dislike for the musical Annie. Like, I really really don’t like it. That being said, I tried to watch this film without letting my personal feelings get in the way. Not sure that I was successful, though.

Overall, the cast is good. I mean, Carol Burnett playing Ms. Hannigan, Tim Curry as Rooster, Bernadette Peters as Lily, Albert Finney as Warbucks (I’m going to avoid calling him Daddy Warbucks because it makes me SUPER uncomfortable). It’s all very good. Even the children are all well cast. They all have excellent singing voices. The weird thing, though, is that all of these people are directed by John Huston. Huston is the strangest choice to direct this film. I mean, this is the man who directed The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of Sierra Madre. Directing a musical doesn’t really seem to be a good fit. By the end, the film really looses itself. And I mean, really looses itself. Rooster tries to murder Annie by throwing her off the top of a bridge. And then Warbucks’ body guards save her while flying a helicopter. I just don’t really know where we go from there or how the film escalated to that point in the first place.

I do just want to point out how weird it is that Warbucks invites an orphan to stay with him for one week. Like, it’s never discussed why. The press is mentioned once, but then they don’t make an appearance again, like at all, during the course of Annie actually staying at the house. So, does this billionaire just want to share his mansion with an orphan for a week for shits and giggles? Nobody else in his life sees this as weird? Also, how mean is it that the plan nearly the whole time is to bring a poor little orphan to this huge mansion, let them live like royalty, and then ship them right back to the orphanage without a second though? That’s freaking cruel.

On the plus side with this movie musical, nearly all the songs move the plot along or helpwith character growth. So, the cheesy song “Tomorrow” at least gives us some insight into Annie’s character. Carol Burnett’s rendition of “Little Girls” is classic as is the version of “Easy Street” performed in this film. So, you know, it’s not all a waste.

Anyway, that’s all I can bring myself to say on the topic of this film. Annie annoys the ever living shit out of me. Honestly, if it weren’t for the blessing that is Carol Burnett, I would never give this film a second watch.