I would like to personally thank every single person who worked on "Annie: Origins" (Long)

Writers, animators, voice actors, music composers, everyone. Everything just flowed together so naturally. I must have watched this cinematic five time and I still simply adore it.

The characters felt like real people, and the kid persona was achieved so perfectly. I feel like getting a child character right is a VERY undervalued thing. It's so easy to resort to cliches, but they managed to make both Annie and Daisy behave like real human beings might.

Annie didn't mean to seriously hurt anyone. She was just protective of Tibbers because it was all she had left of her mother, and in the end it was just her powers and emotions getting the better of her at the wrong time, and it ended in the worst way possible.

Daisy was naive and careless, but how many kids aren't? We didn't get to see much of her, but everything she did is pretty believable in terms of what children actually do and behave like. We've all seen them take things without permission, cry when they're hurt, and doing dangerous things without really considering the consequences.

Gregori was heart warming to watch and listen to with how much he clearly cared for his daughter, and even though he spoiled Annie a bit, it does make sense. With Amoline gone, Annie is the only true family he has left. So he would do everything he can to make sure she stays happy and feel protected.

Leanna, the stepmother, gets a lot of hatred. Not without reason, but the more you think about it, the more relatable it becomes. Presumably, Daisy is her only daughter, and so like Gregori, she's going to be very protective of her. She clearly shows how much she's affected by what happened. I don't believe she meant what she said in the end, calling her a monster. I think she was just emotionally distraught, and felt the need to point the blame to someone in particular. With Annie being the most obvious target.

Everyone was at fault in some way, but no one was really the villain. There wasn't a good guy or a bad guy. It was just a tragic story about a family simply trying to get by. They didn't feel like characters, they felt like people. And I found myself relating to all of them in some way or another.

And I haven't even begun on the animation. Holy moly was this some of the finest looking work of art I've seen in a while. It's oddly captivating in the presentation. Maybe it's because I haven't seen anything like it before, but wow did it catch my attention. The "paintery" style as they call it really works wonders for this story. Also as a side note, the facial expressions were really spot on. I could feel the same way they did just by reading their face in every scene, even the most subtle details were added. Someone really knew what they were doing. Another highly underrated thing in animation.

The voice acting was so fitting. Heck, I didn't even EXPECT voice acting. I thought it would be like A New Dawn or A Twist of Fate where everything is portrayed without actually saying anything. There wasn't a TON of voice acting, but what was there felt genuine. Nothing felt even a little bit off on any given line. Everyone sounded how I expected them to based off appearance. Both the casting AND execution was flawless in this regard.

The story...was not what I was expecting from a cinematic about Annie. I guess in hindsight it isn't the most spectacular thing ever, but at least it made sense and didn't have pointless scenes or glaringly obvious plot holes. It kept me interested in what was going to happen next, and that's all it needed to do.

And without a doubt, my favorite part, the music. This is some of the most fitting music for the subject at hand. The music box melodies mixed in with the more upbeat, sinister music was such a perfect choice for someone known as "The Dark Child." And it was all used appropriately and never overstayed its welcome. Every single scene had just the best score I could envision for them. It's hard to describe just how much I like it, but it really does suck me into the world so much more.

So in short, if anyone who worked on this is reading, let it be known that I appreciate your contribution to the project, and thank you for bringing this to us.