Like most movies, if you've never read the book, You'll Love It. If you have read the book, you'll be like WTF??? [spoiler] Changing the locale of the story from Pittsburgh to California sucks a lot of the life out of it. The deaths of Buddy and Darnell are extremely cheapened without the snowstorm. Combining the LeBay brothers into one character cuts out half of the intrigue and discovery. The confrontation of Buddy and Arnie before he buys the car also loses revelation as the ghost of LeBay infiltrated Arnie and changed him. The resurrection of Christine also loses meaning, along with the reversing odometer, when she just sits there and heals. Even the hamburger scene is lessened without the hitchhiker. Don't even start with the New Year's Eve drive through hell that never happened, the Thanksgiving meal that lasted 5 seconds, discovering Christine AFTER school started and not having Petunia and Sir O-Cedar in the final scene. Even Arnie's death is a cheat, as he was miles away from the final confrontation and Junkins' non-death in the ending scene ruined a plot point.[/spoiler]

If you want the real experience, read the book. It's a shame Hollywood only remakes good movies looking to capitalize on previous success. This movie, with the available CGI technology available today, screams out for course correction and a version that is true to the original work. It would only work as a TV mini-series, like the remake of The Shining accomplished in the late 90s. Trying to translate a 500+ page book into a 90 minute movie just doesn't work. The only shame is that Keith Gordon isn't of the proper age to play Arnie anymore. He pulled the character off perfectly. Carpenter worked well with what he had, it just wasn't true to the original source material.