Annie (Film -2014)

"
Source: Wikipedia.org

Annie has been thrilling audiences with her positive attitude and always looking towards tomorrow. First starting out as the “Little Orphan Annie” comic strip by Harold Gray with film adaptations since 1932 and the Broadway play coming out in 1977.

IMDb: There is no rating until after it’s been released, December 19, 2014

Categories: Kids, Juvenile

Ages: 8-up

Synopsis

2014
Wikipedia

In this modern retelling, an orphaned girl named Annie wants to find her parents. She has her best friend, Sandy, (a dog) and her friends in the orphanage. One day a billionaire gentleman, Mr. Sikes, decides to take in a little girl for a week to build up his reputation with the public; Annie is chosen. Through her positive, uplifting attitude and search for her parents, she melts his heart. Mr. Sikes realizes he wants to adopt Annie. Miss Hannigan, the Orphan owner, fakes she is Annie’s mother to gain as much money as she can from Mr. Sikes to pay for an adoption. In the end, Miss Hannigan is exposed and Annie and Mr. Sikes are reunited and become a family.

Review

This is a fun musical with memorable songs and moments of laughter. There are many versions and Broadway performances for your children to watch it over and over again. “Annie” tells a story of struggle from an orphan’s perspective but that there is hope and love just around the corner. This film would be good for children who’ve been adopted in their youth or were fostered in their youth and then adopted. It shows the difficulty older adoptees go through in the adoption process and understanding who they are and want to be.

Kids Section

Activities

Activities can always help with bonding with your children. These can show the child that you’re interested in them and their interests, creating trust. Here are some fun activities that you can do with your child(ren) based from the film.

Learn the songs from the film and sing them together.

Visit an animal shelter and volunteer to walk/play with the dogs.

Get up and dance to some fun songs!

Do family history work to learn about their ancestors. You can look at pictures, letters, writings or go to familyhistory.org or other sites to find more information and create an account.

Make up a play and perform it for family and friends.

Discussion

This would be a good film to help your child to overcome some possible thoughts of why they were not adopted until an older age. It also teaches to be kind to others and it’s okay to be sad at times and be happy.

How do you think Annie overcame her struggles?

How do your friends help you when you are sad and lonely?

What are some of your favorite songs? And why do you like them?

How can you help friends and family if they scared or nervous?

How can you be like Annie?

References

-Wikipedia article on the 2014 film. [[1]]
-Wikipedia article on Little Orphan Annie the comic strip. [[2]]
-Link to Youtube trailer for 2014 film. [[3]]
-Link for Wikipedia image. [[4]]