Carrie (2002): 4/10
When will major T.V. networks relize that they don't need to remake every book by Stephen King that was made into a movie? They're all horrible (especially The Shining), but Carrie wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
This time, Carrie White is played by Angela Bettis, a 27-year-old going on 17 (wait-so was Sissy Spacek in the original. Oh well). Basically, it's the same plotline as the original, so check it out there.
This version has almost no thrills (two jumps in the last half-hour) and tries to be faithful to the book (just like The Shining tried to do), but can't even succeed in doing that sucessfully. The ending is different, and I don't like it as much as the book and original.
(Possible spoilers coming up)
The visualition of Mrs. White was actually somewhat gruesome, and I actually commend the makers of this new version for having the guts (and the special effects) to do this. Bettis was not the Carrie I know. The makers tried to make her look too mousy and too unliked. The actors were all good, but nothing else really stood out. To me, all the actors were unknown.
If a movie is loved by a lot (yet again, I'm also talking about The Shining), don't remake it. And worse, don't remake it with different actors who don't look like the original's. Billy Nolan (who was John Travolta's part in the original), even though his role was small, did not look right in this new remake.
However, like the original, there were a couple gripes in here too. Although I didn't say it in the other review, the side characters were too numerous and under-defined, but they were even worse in this version. Who was that fat kid?
I didn't really like that police interrogation side-plot, where they were talking to survivors, because it doused out the already slow-moving pace. And when I say slow, I mean slow! For example, when Carrie was trying on makeup took about ten minutes and wasn't necessary. NBC must have relized that a two-hour time slot wasn't enought and two-and-a-half hours isn't right also.
That mayhem-filled half hour ending was unrealistic, even if it was from the book. The book made it seem more real, while this was just madcap mayhem. The makers tried to put a whole lot of telekinetic powers into it (I got somewhat of a Matilda vibe), and even in the book it wasn't like that. They knew that to attract another demographic they needed more "action" so they put in a lot more unecessary telekinetic powers.
This isn't a complaint about the movie itself, but about NBC. After each fifteen minute segment was done and it was time for a commercial, they showed a clip of the movie. Sounds good, right? Wrong. They showed the climax of the prom night, which is best left to be a surprise.
(more spoilers)
When Carrie is visiting her mother's grave, I kept my fingers in my ears and the volume turned low because I knew that it would probably be like the original. Nope. Instead, there was another mini-jump, but I wished that the makers wouldn't do that to faithful followers of Stephen King and his book-to-movies.
Rated TV-14 for violence, blood, mayhem, language, and cruelness.
Review Date: November 5, 2002