How the New Annie Movie Inspired Me as a Parent

There’s a scene early in the upcoming reimagining of the classic musical Annie, where Annie (played by Quvenzhane Wallis) responds to a friend wishing her good luck with “luck is for suckers”. From that moment forward, this spunky electric-haired 10-year-old girl had my attention, for it’s obvious that this Annie was wise beyond her years.

The Junior Dudes and me checking out the "Annie" cast. 

Abandoned while very young by her desperate parents, Annie was forced into survival mode early on. Now living in foster care with a handful of other girls in the home of the bitter Miss Hannigan, Annie longs for a reunion with her birth family but in the interim she manages to create something potentially more valuable with her similarly parentless foster sisters: a family of choice.

When my wife and I were engaged we took a course on preparing for marriage. The one message from that class which still occupies space in my brain so many years later is the concept of “family of origin and family of choice”. In context, we learned that the family you choose (in our case, by marriage) should become your priority in life. Everyone’s familial situations are different and sometimes in life we gravitate toward people who become like family, even if not related by blood. Not to diminish the importance of family of origin (i.e. birth family, or whoever raised you), but the families we choose can become more meaningful on a deeper level because they derive from free will.

Lumped together circumstantially, Miss Hannigan’s girls realize they have a “Hard Knock Life”, and some are quite bitter about it. But while Annie attempts to change their way of thinking, she’s constantly working every angle to improve her own situation with the ultimate goal of finding her family.

Throughout the movie, Annie proves to be an eternal optimist in the face of adversity. She doesn’t get hung up on lingering obstacles, like the kind which trip up many adults (like Cameron Diaz’s Miss Hannigan does), and not only strives to make a better situation for herself, but it is part of her credo: “The sun’ll come out tomorrow”, meaning good things are just around the corner for those who think positively.  

Family is something that many people take for granted. It’s easy amid our hectic and exhausting daily lives to overlook the big picture of how important family really is.  As the father of two young boys, my primary objective is to ensure they are safe and secure while I’m with them and, maybe even more importantly, when I’m not. I also hope that they are not only willing, but eager, to help each other as they grow up. Though they are not family by choice, like Annie and her sisters, I hope they choose to make each other a priority.

Annie’s longing for her family of origin indirectly leads her literally from the poorhouse to the penthouse. When she’s temporarily taken in by gazillionaire Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx), this little girl whose own family history is fractured makes it her mission to teach the lonely Mr. Stacks what family truly means. The irony is she’s never really known a traditional family, yet seems to excel at the nuances involved with one.

The Littler Dude and Sandy. She won't bite. 

I didn’t know how my 2 and 5 year old sons, who had only seen animated features previously, would react to a movie like Annie. So when we were invited to an advance screening I was curious if amid the lively music and cute dog, the subtle messages conveyed in this film would stick with them. It’s obviously too early to tell, but I do know that they were literally dancing in the aisles to several of the songs during the film, none of which they’d ever heard before.

Annie presents an interesting take on today’s ever-increasing modern families, so I’m glad my boys were exposed to the positive messages of optimism, perseverance and family, which are all ideals I strive to teach them on a daily basis. Plus, as an added bonus, I still can’t get “Hard Knock Life” out of my head.

Annie will be in theaters on December 19^th.

The Junior Dudes and the cast. 

I was compensated for this post and invited with my family to an advance screening of the film. All opinions and ideas expressed in this post are solely mine, for better or worse. 

All images contained in this post are the sole property of Dude of the House and may not be copied, used or reproduced without permission. 

What to Expect When You See a Movie About Pregnancy

As I mentioned in The Dude’s Guide to Surviving Your First Pregnancy, I recommend parents see as many movies in theaters as they can before their kids arrive. In over 2 ½ years, I had gone to 3 movies until a few days ago when I added another notch to my comfort-fit elastic belt. 

There’s been tons of movies I’ve wanted to see since the Little Dude was hatched but with the cost of tickets, food and a babysitter almost equal to the Gross National Product of Iceland we usually defer viewing until it’s on cable, video or, most likely, never. These are the sacrifices we make for our children.

Speaking of children, what fine piece of cinema did we break our year-long streak with? The film adaptation of What to Expect When you are Expecting.  As I mentioned in the link in the first paragraph, I urge people not to read that book while pregnant (not that you’d read it any other time), because it is filled with horror stories that will frighten people into abstinence.   

I was curious how a medical-fact based non-fiction book would be turned into a fictionalized movie.  Turns out they went with a tried and true formula: hire some popular actors (Cameron Diaz, Matthew Morrison, Jennifer Lopez, Chace Crawford), write a bunch of vignettes that kinda-sorta-but-not-really intertwine in a forced manner and finally throw in some comic relief (Chris Rock) to drop zingers in the trailer to make sure guys will want to watch it.

This formula has been popular for a several years dating back to Love Actually, which was actually a very entertaining movie.  However, the formula has become more worn out than a one-legged pirate’s kickstand through nonsensical tripe like Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve. I can’t imagine we are that far from seeing Arbor Day: The Musical or a mini-series about March Madness.  And as long as Jessica Biel and/or Zac Efron star, they should do fine.

So back to the WTEWYAE movie, it featured an all-star cast and a no-star plot.  My question on how they could turn this semi-clinical book into a movie was answered when I realized after it ended that they simply picked a handful of pregnancy clichés and added a few "punchlines" to them. It was also obvious what their motivation was when you notice that the four main characters who are pregnant in the movie are all played by actresses who've never given birth before. How about showing some real women for a change, Hollywood?

Pregnancy is an amazing experience. Having been through it completely once and now halfway through my second  turn, I am in awe of what the female body can endure and how it transforms as it takes a bunch of goop and makes a person out of it.  If they sold a machine that did that at Sharper Image, well, they might not have gone bankrupt.  But the screenwriters here felt compelled to fill the movie with obvious jokes about sore boobs and farting. Yes, those are real pregnancy side effects but this movie could have sold them in much more creative ways.  

One thing in the trailer that made me want to see the movie was the “Dudes Group” storyline about a bunch of fathers who hang out at the park together with their infants, none of who apparently ever needs a diaper change.  That was actually a little surprising since Chris Rock had most of the funny lines in the movie, which I’d think might make some of the toddlers laugh so hard they’d wet their little designer pants. I appreciate that the film recognized that fathers do often play a vital role in raising children these days, but somehow these Dudes just weren’t believable.  Another case of the media portraying Fathers as morons. 

Any guy who doesn't know how to hold a baby is a dope. 

I had higher hopes for this film, though I don’t see many movies so maybe this is considered quality these days. Now that I know that what to expect when going to the theater is a lot of worn out gags, I will expect that next time I see a film. Most likely around June, 2013. 

Did you see this movie? What did you think of it?