Annie Live! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Annie Live! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 20, 2022

Annie began life as a comic strip, created by Harold Gray, which debuted in 1924 and lived on for decades. The strip became a Broadway show in 1977, a feature film in 1982, then a 1999 television film, and a 2014 feature film remake. Now, NBC and Universal have made Annie Live! , a stage adaptation that, unlike the 2014 film set in the modern world, returns the story to its roots in depression-era New York. It's well done top to bottom but beyond the novelty of the setting and new faces in the cast, adds little of value, if any value at all, to the story's storied legacy.

The story of Annie is fairly well known, particularly from the original classic released in 1982 and starring Aileen Quinn and Albert Finney. However, a brief recap follows: young Annie (here played by Celina Smith) lives in an orphanage in depression-era New York under the hand of the cruel Miss Hannigan (Taraji P. Henson) and, like her fellow orphans, longs to find a true home. She holds out hope that her parents are still out there, looking for her: she keeps a locket around her neck and a letter in her possession that promises they will one day be reunited. One day, she sneaks out in a laundry cart and finds herself living on the streets, barely scraping by through hunger and cold. Police catch her and return her to the orphanage, and no sooner is Annie back does Grace Farrell (Nicole Scherzinger), a representative from the world's richest bachelor, Oliver Warbucks (Harry Connick Jr.), arrive at the orphanage to invite an orphan to spend the Christmas season with Oliver. As Annie and Oliver bond following a rocky start to their relationship, Annie's past may return into her life at a most inopportune time.

Annie Live! certainly takes its cues from the 1982 film; there are a lot of similarities at work and in some ways this production feels characterless, adhering more to tradition rather than trying to find its way forward. It's comfortable if it's anything, which is a good thing, but it never really screams out its reason to exist in the first place.

The production enjoys robust production design and enormous scope, particularly impressive given its stage production roots, and beyond seeing the masked audience in the background or hearing various bursts of applause it's so easy to become lost in the story and characters that one might even forget that this is a filmed stage production and not a feature film. That speaks well to the seamless nature of things (though there is a backstage excursion in the opening moments to follow a quick wardrobe change) as well as the care and attention to detail that went into making it, even if there are very clear callbacks to the 1982 film.

If there's a clear-cut reason to make a date with Annie Live! it's to bask in the beauty of the song and dance performances that shine from start to finish here. Young Celina Smith can absolutely sing, and she sings her heart out for every familiar tune. Connick Jr., of course, doesn't miss a beat (even if the bald cap is very unconvincing) and Taraji P. Henson is inspired casting as the mean Miss Hannigan. This is a well-rounded cast for vocal and dramatic work, and each brings both familiarity and uniqueness to their respective characters.

Annie Live! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Annie Live!'s 1080p presentation may not be the transfer of tomorrow, but it's generally well suited to today, at least with some level of modest expectation. This is not a polished Hollywood production but rather a straight-from-network-TV HD image that lacks the finesse and crispness of a big budget film. That means that detail is going to be a little less than stellar, colors a little less than brilliant, and compression left wanting. Macroblocking is evident through much of the production, albeit mild, but still present. Likewise, source noise is visible but usually not to a distracting extent. The image cannot find pinpoint razor sharpness. It is instead suitably sharp, offering good foundational skin details and clothing elements (particularly the run-down costumes seen in the orphanage and out on city streets). Various set pieces delight for the obvious depth and realism. Colors are wanting a bit more pop and punch, particularly as the action shifts to the Warbucks estate. There's enough depth and accuracy here but it's lacking the vitality one might expect. Black levels are solid, especially considering the importance of low light backgrounds where audiences drift into the darkness rather than stand apart across a portion of the screen. All in all, this is not bad as something that is essentially a straight rip off of network TV. Keep those expectations in check and Annie Live! should delight on Blu-ray.

Annie Live! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Universal brings Annie Live! to Blu-ray with a well-rounded DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Much like the video presentation there's something of a disconnect between a full-fledged and precisely engineered track and one that is more sourced from this sort of live production, but even without that extra TLC there's no mistaking that this is a robust track that makes fine use of all the speakers and immerses the listener into the action. That immersion is critically important because so often the camera is right there in the middle of the story; rather than watch the production from a dethatched audience perspective, the home viewer is pulled onto the middle of the stage. When all of the orphans are singing, there's a legitimate sense of immersion at play (though certainly realistic distinctiveness and discreteness are lacking). Crowd immersion is in evidence, too. Clarity is fine at all levels, whether dialogue or music and lyrics; there aren't many core sound effects beyond these to note. Dialogue also holds to fine front-center placement and is always well prioritized.

Annie Live! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Annie Live! contains no supplements. There is neither a top menu nor a pop-up menu; program playback begins upon disc insertion. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover. This is truly as bare bones as they come.

Annie Live! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's not too much of a hard-knock life for this take on Annie. The "live" production runs smoothly and seamlessly. It's well directed and performed, it looks great, and the music is, as always, the highlight. That said, this production adds nothing of lasting value to the brand name; it's a "nice to have" and not an "essential." Universal's Blu-ray is as featureless as they come, but the video and audio presentations are more than adequate, if still imperfect. Worth a look.