"Annie" reviews: Critics say don't bet your bottom dollar

As if Sony Pictures hasn't had a tough enough week, the "Annie" reviews are in, and they're not exactly glowing.

Though critics applauded the film's star, Quvenzhane Wallis ("Beasts of The Southern Wild"), many of them say there was just too much gloss and no dimension.

The remake of the Broadway show and 1982 film, which hits theaters Friday, currently has a 22 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Here's what critics are saying about it:

"Did we really need another go-around for Annie, that indomitable little curly-haired moppet, who defiantly sings about how she'll 'love ya tomorrow', when life is kicking her in the teeth? This movie is slathered in slush, immersed in yuckiness and positively laminated in ickiness." -- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian.

"If there's a more awkward musical number ever committed to film, I can't recall it right now. Oh wait, there is one later with the big finale, 'I Don't Need Anything But You,' in which Wallis, Foxx and Byrne get to-- gulp--dance, while everyone else stands and sways, wearing frozen smiles." -- David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter.

"The narrative and emotional architecture of a much loved, frequently revived, maybe-not-quite-as-great-as-you-remember-it show has been reduced to a chaotic shambles. 'It's the Hard-Knock Life' can still lodge itself in your head, and 'Tomorrow' retains the power to dampen your eyes, but the way these and other numbers are arranged, choreographed and edited undermines their effectiveness. A movie musical is more than a bunch of actors lip-syncing on camera, but 'Annie' is barely even that. The voices sound thin and flat. The mouths don't move in time with the music. The dancing is a chaotic stew of flailing limbs. Numbers that are supposed to lift you out of the story into a realm of giddy wonder and pure feeling have the opposite effect. You just wish they would end." -- A.O. Scott, The New York Times.

"Musically, 'Annie' is a disaster. The melodious original score by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin gets the full-on Autotune pap treatment, which takes to these songs about as well as a lute to death metal. You won't ever hear a worse rendition of 'Easy Street' than the one performed by Diaz and Cannivale -- I promise. (The Sia-branded new songs feel much more at home.) One can only hope that Byrne, Diaz, and Cannavale had 'movie musical' on their bucket lists and will never tarnish their talents in such a way again. Aside from an unintentional homage to 'Zoolander' that is so tone-deaf it'll make you guffaw, 'Annie' goes out of its way to make viewing it a hard-knock life...for us." -- Jason Clark, Entertainment Weekly.

"The awkward choreography is also disappointing. But the strangest mistake is the music, which has been blandly retooled for a new generation. Surely a film produced by Jay Z and Will Smith could have offered better updates on songs like 'It's the Hard Knock Life.' Even so, Wallis is charming and charismatic enough to carry the movie with confidence. And though this effort falls short, it's always worth updating classic stories for contemporary audiences. Anyone with high standards will have to compromise them. But that's easy enough when you've got bored kids and winter break stretching out ahead of you." -- Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News.

"Still, few people should be surprised by what Gluck's film offers -- or fails to offer. Yes, Cameron Diaz shamelessly chews the scenery as Miss Hannigan. Yes, the film's sentimentality frequently gives way to schmaltz. But this is 'Annie,' after all. You were expecting what, exactly? Any film has to be judged in context, and 'Annie' isn't (and never was) intended for cynical adults or fed-up big brothers. Rather, it's for the red-headed kid sisters of the world -- and they should find enough inspiration here to torture a whole new generation of siblings." -- Mike Scott, The Times Picayune.

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