If you're on a Mac, you can also have a look at Pixels:3D, a Mac OS X only app. Same price range as Carrara, but different direction: Pixels has less bells and whistles, but is more flexible. Everything is scriptable, it has a RenderMan compliant rendering with micropolygon displacement and NURBS modeling. Compared to Carrara, it doesn't have caustics or the NPR styles. I can't compare things like the bone system because I only have the very dated Carrara 1.1. But they have a demo version, so you can see for yourself if you like it or not.