Annie

Rating:
Summary: OverProduced, very Overproduced
Review: If anyone has ever seen the Stage version of this musical, you can't help but understand that this version is overproduced. Hard Knock Life is over choreographed, as is Easy Street as well as some other songs. Ray Stark should have kept to the simple trick of the original stage play. He did not keep it simple. Gone is "NYC" only to be replaced by "Let's go to the Movies".
While the Disney version is cut down to the 2 hour TV. movie, it works better.
As for the idea of releasing this as a full frame disk, wait for Columbia to wise up and remaster the film for wide screen.

Rating:
Summary: The DVD is Cut TO Pieces!
Review: Well I agree that Annie is a fantastic movie, I absolutely love it but the fact remains that the special DVD release should have included wide.screen format and not just full.frame.

A lot of people who hate wide.screen just don't understand or maybe just don't care that full.frame is edited and they deleted part of the movie just so you guys won't whine and boo hoo hoo about black bars but do you realize that they cut the film to do that? Do you even care? Real serious film buff care!

Full.frame is only ok if it was some old movie that was made before 1955 or a TV show or movie before they started filming in wide.screen but now even TV shows are being filmed and shown in wide.screen!

Anyway this movie is fantastic but the DVD isn't!

Rating:
Summary: Four stars!
Review: This is a very entertaining family friendly movie...for the most part. There's a frightening chace scene where the villians are after Annie.

There's one more thing--I think they went a bit overboard with Miss Hannigan's character. Now, don't get me wrong--I'm a BIG fan of Carol Burnett and every time I watch her I laugh sooo hard. But, I mean, that song "Little Girls" was a bit...brutal. Not to mention that she is always in her underwear. (Although, thankfully, very old-fashioned 30's underwear.) I did like at the end how she tried to stop her brother from hurting Annie, so that mostly redeemed her character I think.

Overall, this is a very good movie.

Rating:
Summary: A Child hood Favorite
Review: I cannot believe such a horrid review was made (editorial review)! Obviously this person was not a little girl growing up in the 80s. I did not have a chance to see the play as a girl. I will tell you, this was my ALL time favorite as a child. I watched it every day. I now have a baby girl of my own, and cannot wait to share the joys of this movie with her. I think I can even remember the words to sing along!!

Rating:
Summary: WIDECREEN is a MUST
Review: I have wanted this for years to come out in a special edition. I did not know until after I received it as a Valentines gift that it was FULLSCREEN! UGH!! I opened it already & am stuck with it now but would never have wanted it had I known it was 1:33.

Why...WHY do studios do this??!!??

Rating:
Summary: SO WHAT IT'S FULL SCREEN... GET REAL
Review: Its a great movie! I still watch the VHS version sometimes. People really need to get a life and just appreciate the movie. Two years ago it would have been perfect for you. If you want widescreen, fine, wait until it comes out. But stop cluddering the comments with this nonsense whining and just say how much you love the movie.

So anyway... Annie is a wonderful movie, no matter what format its in. I recommend it to any and everyone. It also works great on kids, my 2 year old niece doesn't move the whole time its playing!

Rating:
Summary: Annie (Special Anniversary Edition) What A Shame Full Screen
Review: For all of you who thinks that this DVD version is the best you are wrong. I saw this movie in a theather in 1982 and what a joy to see this movie on a big silver screen. If I compare the DVD to the Theatre version well I am very generous about this 1 star because I couldn't put less. This version is only a massacre of a beautiful movie that demands a wide-screen version to really appreciate the scale of the cinematography of that movie "let go to the movie" is an example. I am not going to by this DVD Edition and I suggest strongly to anyone who wants to enjoy the movie as it was ment to be to claim from Columbia Tristar Home Video a Wide-Screen treatment and DO NOT BY this version let that company drown in their ocean of not sold Annie (Special Anniversary Edition) DVD full-Screen. Although this DVD claims to have a DTS soundtrack wich is good I suggest also to those of you who have a wide-screen release to hold on to this copy and don't waste your money and by the way I read some review and one of them said that the full screen version was giving a complete picture false all the way that movie was filmed in a 35mm anamorphic format in other world Panavision with a aspect ration of 2.35:1 and a TV set is 1.33:1 so filling a TV set screen give you to lose 43% of the picture. I hope strongly that you big shots at Columbia Tristar Home Video (own by Sony Pictures) will release in the near future a Wide-Screen treatment on DVD of this wonderfull motion picture otherwise I will hold on to my Laserdisc (12 inches optical analogue video disc) Wide-Screen Version Of Annie.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Movie Version!
Review: 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. However, the actors really sparkle in their roles and do a wonderful job. My favorite is Carol Burnett as Miss Hannigan - she is hysterically funny! Tim Curry as Rooster and Bernadette Peters as Lily also have some great presence and were fun to watch. It is true that the musical is cheesy and smarmy and all of that, but I love belting out the songs with the singers and always feel good after I watch this movie!

Rating:
Summary: Fullframe Only DVD Stinks!
Review: I love this movie but I hate the DVD!

This should have included a widescreen option instead of just only having fullframe!

The fact that they gave the movie the old chop chop on this DVD stinks!

Rating:
Summary: NOT IN WIDESCREEN
Review: I agree with another reviewer that this movie should have had a widescreen option, considering that it is supposed to be an "anniversary edition," and a "special" one at that! This looks like another studio ploy to release the movie out at some future point IN widescreen and make more money on the product. Considering that this film's biggest asset is its visual quality, i.e., sets, photography, etc., to release it in full screen is a mistake. Were it not too late, I would return the copy I bought! Even the image quality is mediocre. The film itself is not great, and I'm not sure I agree that Miss Quinn was the best choice for the part, although she's very talented and charming, but this movie deserved a better DVD version. The MENU screen is about the best thing the DVD has. And that's pathetic.