I love how Ms. Spacek became Carrie in the original. The actress was really beautiful, and her portrayal was not overweight nor had acne, but her acting skills alone made her a total outcast.
It would be hard to compete with that, but it would seem the ones involved in the remake did not even try, having a cute (tomboyish), smiling and playful Carrie.
In the original, we get Carrie's final explosion is caused by years and years of living a life she hates (tries to love it because it is what her mom wants, but she simply can't). Years and years of people laughing at her. The remake shows a Carrie that is mostly okay in the group and suddenly abuses her very-much-under-control superpowers to kill everyone she knows.
The remake was okay...but in the original, Sissy Spacek portrayed Carrie as backward and unattractive. Chloe...not so much. Her acting was good, just didn't pull off the outcast as well.
Agreed. She even joined in the group jokes and talked back.
I did like that her mom showed more love for her, as in the book. If not for that love, she would have returned Carrie to the Lord a long time ago, as was her duty, but she was weak and her love stopped her from doing what she knew she had to do.
I did not like that her mom was more subdued in her sharing the word of God with others. I think that was a huge factor of what made Carrie an outcast in the book and the first movie. People saw her mom as a crazy fanatic, so Carrie had to be crazy by association, too. In the remake, she is very "religious", too, but keeps her thoughts and judgments to herself; so why did kids hate Carrie and made her life miserable? Oh, yeah, they didn't.
Something I loved in the new movie were Tommy and Sue. Actually, I loved the fact the kids still looked like kids (slightly older than the characters, but not as much as the ones in the first movie). Tommy Ross was convincing in being a very cool guy with everyone. I can see why people would like him. And Sue Snell looked beautiful and intelligent, and also sensitive to others' problems. I can see both of them as the popular kids due to looks, charisma, academics and sports achievements, and politeness. BTW, I never really liked the original movie's Tommy's looks.