Annie (2014)

"Annie 2.0 has been tweaked with an urban, social media-savvy audience in mind, but rides roughshod over the basics of musical comedy. Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) is a darling as Annie, packing buckets of moxie, and Jamie Foxx is the perfect new-era Daddy Warbucks — bluff germaphobe and cellphone billionaire Will Stacks — but that’s about where the good decisions end. It’s a mystery why director Will Gluck (Friends With Benefits, Easy A) opted to take on the classic children’s musical when so little care has been given to the rudiments of the genre."

"While there are several possible good reasons to remake the Depression-set musical in 2014, none of them seem to have informed Gluck’s overblown yet undernourished treatment."

"Perhaps the most hypercurrent thing about Gluck’s film is how it espouses the value of family while actually celebrating products as the only true form of modern connection."

"The cast would have been better served by a middle school production overseen by a creatively frustrated, inappropriately ambitious drama teacher than by this hacky, borderline-incompetent production..."

"Tonally varied to the point of discombobulation."

"The sun'll come out tomorrow, by which time this toxic mess should be forgotten."

"A mushy mix of sentiment and some off-key singing lets the air out of this beloved musical's limo tires."