Having never read the book or considered myself much of a fan of the original 1976 film, I went into this remake not expecting much and with a semi-open mind. I knew from the trailer that little was changed, so I figured the flick wouldn't try to pull any surprises on us. This isn't the first time it received the remake treatment, as NBC apparently released a made-for-TV movie back in 2002 starring Angela Bettis, which somehow flew passed me, because I've never seen it. I did, however, watch the terrible Rage: Carrie 2 in theaters back in '99. Until this review I've since had that atrocity blocked from memory. Whether you want to consider it another adaptation from the book or simply a remake of the original, either way, it's actually not that bad of a movie.

If you're for some reason unfamiliar with the story (shame on you!), the film tells the tale of a young high school girl named Carrie, whom discovers that she has telekinetic abilities after having recently blossomed into womanhood (AKA has her first period, DUH). Having been brought up in a strict religious household, her fanatical mother never told her about her period, thus resulting in a crazy (and bloody) public freakout in the girl's shower. The incident was witnessed by many and so began the start of Carrie's continuous physical and verbal bullying from her fellow peers. Carrie eventually reaches her limit when a prank is pulled during prom, which leads her to use her newfound gifts in the extinguishing of all those in the prom.

I thought Julianne Moore did a pretty good job as Carrie's insane mother, but aside from her I wasn't keen on the casting choices. Chloe Moretz was decent, but felt she didn't look or act awkward enough to play a convincing outcast, while the rest of the cast either looked too old or too much like models to be believable high school students. Having said that, I really didn't have many problems with the film. The pacing was good and the character development was decent, despite the fact that you really don't care all that much for anyone aside from maybe Sue and Carrie herself.

If I were to complain about anything next to the casting, it'd definitely have to be the infamous climax, which seemed a bit toned down, in my opinion. I guess maybe I was expecting too much, because I was disappointed in the lack of blood and carnage in the prom scene. She even went out of the way to save a specific character from death, proving that she was using some conscious judgment as opposed to the blind rage that was expected from the character. Though, I did find the last death to be very satisfying.

While Carrie is a fairly pointless remake, it's still far from being a bad film. The pacing is solid and it kept me entertained despite the story changing very little from what we've all known it to be. The casting is dubious and the climax isn't as satisfying as I hoped it'd be, but it still accomplished what it set out to do. I think the film succeeded in terms of bringing forth the classic tale to a new audience, but remains nothing more than a mediocre watch to us that are already familiar with the source material.