While Annie (Quvenzhané Wallis) is still living a hard knock life in The Big Apple with a not-so-nice foster mom, her temporary savior is now a cell phone mogul surrounded by high-tech devices 24/7 instead of bustling servants. The moral of the story, however, is unchanged. Annie, even the updated version, never fails to teach us all about what's really important in life.
These parents shared their thoughts on the movie and what it meant to their kids.
A dose of nostalgia
Nothing gives us warm and fuzzy feels like revisiting something wonderful from our childhood. "There's a reason why Annie has entertained families for generations and I’m glad it’s back in some way to inspire generations of kids today," said Vanessa Diaz, who says she identified with Annie growing up, and often used her happy outlook as inspiration for her own attitude. She jumped at the chance to take her family to see the updated movie, and shared her experience on her blog.
Yolanda Machado wrote about her amazement that a movie with the same basic story line and morals could transcend generations. "It's funny, how all these years after I experienced all the emotions of Annie, my daughter was saying how it made her feel happy and she was dancing in her seat."
A great family message
As important as they are, our families are often taken for granted or placed on the back burner. Annie reminds us to think twice about that.
"It really is a story about sharing time with those you love the most, and being there with my family made the story touch my heart," Robert Loftus shared on his blog. He left a fast-paced job to be a stay-at-home dad, and watching Annie helped him feel good about that decision. "It is true, if you stop and take a look, happiness is right in front of us."
Another stay-at-home dad, Jason Greene, wrote that he often wonders if life would better with an office job and fluffier paychecks. "Annie helped me once again to realize that money isn’t everything, but the people that are close to me are," he said.
The character Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx) may be a mogul, but he's surprisingly relatable to many parents — Jeff Bogle included. He shared on OWTK that he gets preoccupied from time to time, just like Stacks, but the movie helped him see the error of his ways. "Those glorious moments of childhood joy will not cause a stock price to soar but it will do exactly that to one’s heart."
It's not just dads who get too consumed with work from time to time. Kelly Dixon is a work-at-home mom who sometimes feels like she's doing too much to pay enough attention to anything — including her kids. Watching Annie lessened that worry a bit for her. "I walked out of the movie knowing that, while I might not be a perfect mom, I’m present with my children," she explained on her blog.
An example of diversity
Today's families, for the most part, are not the cookie-cutter versions of family units from decades past. Annie takes this notion and embraces it — a move close to the hearts of many.
Nancy Horn blogged about her excitement that the movie is about family, but not in the traditional meaning. "It’s a reminder that families can come in all shapes and sizes."
"The movie reminds that 'family' may not be in the traditional sense for everyone," Tammy Gibson said on her blog. "But when you are surrounded by people that love you, and you keep investing in those relationships, you’ll find joy."
Something for everyone
Not everyone needs a reminder that family is first, but we can all use a little help getting the whole crew together from time to time. Deborah Stallings Stumm shared that this movie did just that for her. "I was thrilled to find a movie that appealed to my entire family in such a wholesome and entertaining way," she said. "Opportunities to spend time together as a family are so rare in this busy world."
Beats that move you
If the story line doesn't move you, we guarantee the music in this movie will. Jay Sokol was worried his young sons, ages 2 and 5, wouldn't be able to follow the story, but all that worry was for nothing. "They were literally dancing in the aisles to several of the songs during the film, none of which they’d ever heard before," he blogged. He's still not sure they were able to absorb the messages of the movie, but they sure liked the tunes.
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