New "Nightmare"

First things first:
Jackie Earle Haley is a fantastic Freddy Kruger and does succeed in making the character his own, not a Robert Englund spinoff. Also, Freddy's make-up looks pretty great here, I think (a lot of people have said he looks like an 'alien,' but it's a pretty accurate portrayal of a burn victim), and it's pretty disturbing as well. And it's nice to see Freddy portrayed as scary and malevolent again (though Wes Craven accomplished this in the amazing New Nightmare in the 90's), though he does crack a few (very disturbing) one-liners.

So, with that aside, how does A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010 hold up?
Unfortunately, not too well. While not the disaster many will claim it to be, this redux ultimately doesn't work, and fails to reboot the Nightmare legacy effectively.
The main problem is that it's really just not interesting. With the exception of the dream sequences (none of which were really outstanding, but they were done well) and the stuff involving Freddy, it's all pretty flat. While there are plenty of asides to the original here, none of it really registers or works. It's all just 'there.' The deaths are gory, but not particularly creative (though the new take on the ceiling murder was kinda cool). There's a backstory for Freddy here, which is a bit different than the original (we're shown this time), but it's somewhat effective and helps the film move into its own territory, becoming a little unpredictable even.
One of the cooler ideas was the concept of sleep deprivation, and how the filmmakers run with it. The 'micronaps' tool was pretty neat and worked into the story well, showing the effects of a lack of sleep, which we didn't often see in the originals. Once the story moves into the final act, the pace picks up a bit, but the final confrontation with Freddy is not at all climactic, and not worthy of what had been set up.
One of the biggest problems here is the characters. Not only are they hardly developed and weakly written, the kids are practically indestinguishable from one another. None of the main teens are at all compelling. Most criminal of all is the treatment given to the heroine, Nancy. Originally played endearingly by Heather Langenkamp, here she's portrayed by Rooney Mara. Langenkamp's Nancy was a strong, vulnerable and relatable 'final girl,' and a worthy advisary to Mr. Kruger. Mara simply sulks around, looking morose. When she says "I don't exactly fit in," it's the first hint we're given of it, since her character receieves no development or dimensions. I didn't care if this Nancy lived or not, and considering the original was one of my favorite heroines, that's unforgivable. The rest of the teenagers are so-so; Kyle Gallner is likable as Quentin (the Johhny Depp-esque role). Katie Cassidy is very effective as Kris (aka 'Tina' from '84), and would've been a far better leading lady than Mara. Luckily, the strongest work here is done by Haley, as previously mentioned.
Really, though it's far from terrible, this Nightmare redux is really just 'blah.' It's just not effective or that interesting. None of it's particularly scary either (though it is loud). Some might like it, but I'm a pretty big Freddy fanatic, and this just didn't do it for me. Platinum Dunes' redo's all seem to turn out similarly (the exception being their fantastic remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre), especially last year's Friday the 13th, which also looked promising, but failed to deliver. I've taken a lot of flack for my praise of Rob Zombie's Halloween films, but, your opinion of the films aside, it has to be said that the concepts and stories in Zombie's films (particularly Halloween II) were radically different than the originals and extremely creative. Those movies had ideas and explored their characters and themes, and ultimately, were far more ambitious, whereas the new Nightmare, and all Platinum Dunes' remakes, fails to bring anything new to the table. It commits the ultimate sin by just being generic. As I said, while it's not a horrible flick, it ultimately can't justify its existance when the perfectly accesible original still holds up pretty well.