Annie

Instead of treated, we get tricked by the shallow and obnoxious Annie, an ill-conceived update of the fairy-tale musical about a precocious orphan girl into the social-media age.

It’s a remake of the 1982 film of the same name, which was an adaptation of the venerable Broadway production, which was based on the 1920s “Little Orphan Annie” comic strip. You won’t find many connections to those versions in this pointless reprise that seems driven more by financial than creative means.

It shifts the setting from the Depression to the modern-day hustle and bustle of New York City, where Annie (Quvenzhane Wallis) is living in a foster home with other girls and Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz), a greedy social climber who only wants to collect money from the state.

Annie eventually crosses paths with Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx), a business tycoon who sees some photo ops with the youngster as beneficial to his mayoral campaign. Eventually he finds a soft spot in his heart for Annie, as does his personal assistant (Rose Byrne), and allows her to move into his penthouse and share his wealth. But the girl soon questions his motives and continues her quest to find her real parents.

The musical numbers feature some familiar and catchy tunes — most notably “It’s the Hard Knock Life” and “Tomorrow” — but the vocals are uneven and the choreography is chaotic. That’s unfortunately symptomatic of the production as a whole, since the screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada) and director Will Gluck (Friends With Benefits) strains to bring contemporary relevance to the material at every turn.

The scattered charms are due mostly to Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild), whose mature portrayal is mature enough to make viewers forget about the red-haired moppet from previous adaptations. Yet while the protagonist might appeal to young girls because of her impetuous sweetness, as a whole the film even more cartoonish than its predecessor, especially the performances of Diaz and of Bobby Cannavale as a greedy campaign manager.

The remake is the brainchild of producers Will Smith and Jay-Z (who effectively remixed “Hard Knock Life” into a hip-hop anthem more than a decade ago). But it emphasizes broad slapstick and tries to coast on bubbly cuteness while having viewers ignore its aggressive materialism and half-hearted story of redemption. The audience winds up taking the hard knocks.

Rated PG, 118 minutes.