Carrie Movie Review (2013)

The Good: Probably the best aspect of this movie is the fact that it doesn't deviate too far away from the original Carrie (1976) film, and still remakes the content to be very modern. It doesn't take very long for the suspense to pick up in the beginning. One of my favorite additions to this remake is the character development is a little deeper than in the original. This time around we get to see just how horrible Carrie suffers from the "Mean Girls" treatment from her fellow classmates, in a more contemporary sense of public humiliation. The mother ( Julian Moore) has a bit more depth to her character which draws an interesting line between her religious zealous and/or just mental illness. This movie gets a bit more graphic than the original towards the end and the "smashing" visuals were a nice surprise. Lastly, Carrie's powers in this movie are increased 10x! She may as well join the X-Men Movies.

The Bad: While it's nice to see Carrie's powers expanded, they are a bit all over the place and didn't really make sense. In the original she simply had telekinesis, but the fact that her powers are equivalent to that of a Marvel comic book superhero, it makes it just a tad bit harder to believe. The original story line kept Carrie's powers as potentially a scientific phenomenon, while this more modern version blurs the lines on whether this was natural or purely demonic. You'll almost get the sense that the director just gave her powers just for the sake of doing so, rather than keeping it within the context of the movie. There was a little bit of over-acting on the part of Chloe Grace Moretz only in the very beginning of the film. Rather than acting like a social outcast, she acts like she's a newborn child. Lastly, I felt a little disappointed at the "They're all gonna laugh at you" line. Just didn't have the same pizzazz I was hoping for.

The Reason: First and foremost, if you haven't watched the original 1976 version, please do. I highly recommend it. It'll give you a much better sense of appreciation of how far we've come and how well this remake really made the modern transition. I still think the average movie goer will enjoy this even if this is the first time you've ever heard of Carrie. While you don't have to run to see this in the theaters, I highly doubt you'll be disappointed if you did. Good theater watch, worth the money, and even better rental if you decide to wait.

The Rating: 8.5/10