Again, this was a Christmas Eve viewing hence I’ll take the opportunity to say here, and this applies for everything over the next few days, expect even more inconsistency, weirdness, and nonsense than usual

Okay, an apology may be necessary. ‘Cos I’ve whined about this version of the musical just about every time I mention it, but though I cringed as soon as the credits started here, by the time it got half way through “Hard Knock Life” I was practically swooning over it. And no matter how much I’ve grown to like the substitution, “only” definitely still works better than “always” in “Tomorrow” for me.

But all the while I was waiting for the end, which I knew was where it went awry. The family were talking about it as it was on and my mum was saying how she was sure she’d seen it before without a lot of the “gumf”, as I’d call it – and looking at the IMDb I see there’s a 90 minute cut that was made for US TV. I’d kinda love to see that cut. I still think the helicopter action etc is a bit much and it reminds me a lot of the overly dramatic second act of The Sound of Music which I also find unnecessary. “Annie” just ain’t that big a show, and the Disney remake understood that.

But, for the record, Aileen Quinn is not so garish as I’d thought all these years. I was surprised by how many of the costumes and designs etc. match up between the two versions, and of course the Depression look here is better than anything a 90s TV production could muster. I love the girl who plays Molly, I love Tim Curry, Bernadette Peters, Carol Burnett and Albert Finney, of course. This is one case where I will say, it just about gets over the overlong problem with the sheer wondrousness of its basis.

The blandness continues … this one had its moments before I zoned out entirely, and you can’t really complain about the pairing of Diane Lane and John Cusack, not to mention Elizabeth Perkins and Stockard Channing in support … but like, literally, there’s not a lot more to be said about it. It’s just conventional rom-com all the way, and let’s face it, even fans of that genre will be able to pick a day’s worth of more preferable viewing.

Now if nothing else, at least this one is a little Christmassy. It doesn’t get much more cutesy than hiding cute little dawgies from the mean man It’s about as by the numbers as the other Christmas movies I’ve watched so far this year, but I don’t know, this one just appealed to me more. It has a really nice score that hints at tons of carols and songs etc, and there’s something about even the worst Depression era movies that always manages to tug at the heart strings. Jordan-Claire Green (omg, one of the groupies in School of Rock, lol, just let out a little yelp at how she’s grown) is perfect in the lead.

The final school play scene is what it’s all about, though – let’s just say this is the second movie I’ve seen this week whose title was not betrayed. And the final hug between Emma and her dad is just beeeeeyootiful This one will definitely go into my yearly Christmas viewing I think. In fact, if I can’t see Eloise again this year, I might just have to get this out again that soon just for the “poodle in a dog house” girl, lol