The criticisms for Annie have been unfair I feel, then again maybe there's some bias as it was one of my absolute favourites as a kid and still is. There have been worse musicals before and since, as well as better admittedly(Wizard of Oz, Singin' in the Rain, West Side Story),High School Musical movies anyone, as well as The Wiz, Mame and A Chorus Line for examples? As for Aileen Quinn, she isn't ginger! She was wearing a wig, plus Annie has red hair! And she was about 10 years old, when she did this movie, and in my opinion she had a fantastic singing voice for her age, and she is an appealing and spunky actress. Albert Finney is just wonderful as Daddy Warbucks, with his gruff voice, and his slow transformation from stern to heartfelt.. it was totally believable. The locket scene was very moving. Broadway diva Ann Reinking was a lovely Grace Farrell(just look at her dancing in "We Got Annie"),and I liked her voice very much. Sometimes though, it was hidden over the highest voices especially in "I'm think i'm Gonna Like It Here". But to be fair, the arrangements are always done to the abilities of the singers. Bernadette Peters and Tim Curry had a little less to do, but they were excellent in their villainous roles, and their rendition of "Easy Street" was wonderful. Carol Burnett was fantastic in this movie, making Miss Hannigan as nasty as humanly possible, and performance-wise steals the film. The dialogue is very witty and warm-hearted throughout and Burnett has the best lines, she sings and acts the heck out of "Little Girls". The servants did well too, though I don't know any of their names, though Geoffrey Holder was a delight as Punjab. The orphans are delightful, especially Toni Ann Gisondi as Molly, she was so cute, who put rare energy into "Hard Knock Life", and "Without a smile." I was really impressed with the performances. The songs are just marvellous, even the ones added to the movie(especially "Sign"),except for "Dumb Dog", very forgettable and pointless. I have seen the stage play,(my sister Kathryn played Molly) and enjoyed it as well, though the movie should stand on its own and that's what people seem to not take into account. The 1999 film was good if too short and sugary sweet, but while this may seem like blasphemy I've always considered this the better film, more faithful doesn't always mean better you know. The wonderful title song "Tommorow!" played over the title credits, and there was a reprise in the white house, which is one of my favourite scenes. But it showed in her face that Aileen Quinn preferred "Maybe." "Let's Go to the movies" surprisingly worked on its own merits. It looked lovely with some nice movie star references, and the production values in the entire film are fabulous, glitzy and evocative. But the best element of the movie along with Burnett and the songs was the choreography by the immensely talented Arlene Phillips. I disagree that it was overblown, as a matter of fact it worked amazingly well. The only real criticisms I have with Annie, is that I agree that John Huston was the wrong director, I felt his heart wasn't really in it and his inexperience in the musical genre did show somewhat and while nail-biting the climax was a little contrived, but the performances, songs and choreography completely overshadowed them. Fantastic. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The songs in this are good, in any case, and that's the important thing about a musical. This is the definitive version of the classic novel in which a young orphan girl is adopted by a wealthy industrialist and forced to learn airs and graces which don't exactly come naturally to her.

It's just a pity that so much of the running time consists of Aileen Quinn's histrionic acting as the screeching Annie. This kid can't say a word but instead has to shout everything in that god-awful voice of hers, and I cringed my way through all of her dialogue scenes. Still, as I said, the musical set-pieces are better, having real heart to them, so it's not all bad, and she's a much better singer than she is a speaker.

Cast-wise, there's an exemplary turn from the unrecognisable Albert Finney as Warbucks, the benevolent benefactor, alongside stock villainous performances from the likes of Carol Burnett and Tim Curry. Watch out for LIVE AND LET DIE's Geoffrey Holder as the manservant, Punjab.

Little Orphan Annie as a comic strip ran for 86 years from 1924 to 2010 until 1968 under its original creator Harold Gray. Quite a bit is left out when you read a list of Annie's adventures in that period. But the film Annie captures the essence of what she was about. One thing though she never grew up staying a plucky and resourceful orphan with her benefactor Daddy Warbucks the Howard Hughes of the funny papers who had endless money.

Young Aileen Quinn is our Annie and Daddy Warbucks is Albert Finney. The film is an adaption of the Broadway Musical that ran for six years and 2377 performances. It hadn't even finished it's Broadway run when the film came out. The film plot concerns Daddy Warbucks inviting a selected orphan out to the fabulous Warbucks estate and Annie gets to be the lucky girl. She gets to him with her innocent charm and plucky attitude.

But the mean woman who runs the orphanage who is played with delicious panache by Carol Burnett wants to exploit the situation to her own advantage. Burnett enlists her conman brother Tim Curry and his wife Bernadette Peters. What they do and how Annie triumphs over all is for you to see the film.

I'm not sure John Huston was the right choice to direct this, but Busby Berkeley was not available. Probably with a musical or two under his belt Huston might have made a classic. As it is it's not a bad film, just not a great one.

In fact this adaption of a cartoon was really perfected by Warren Beatty when he created his Dick Tracy film. That's how you adapt a cartoon as a cartoon to film with live actors.

Still Annie got a couple of Oscar nominations for adapted musical score and Art&Set Direction. I wish Burnett had been given recognition when she's on the film really takes off.

A good musical with a good adaption for family viewing.