Water For Elephants

Beautiful people? Check. Beautiful-looking movie? Check. But it'll take more than looks to get Water For Elephants past the MSN review.

Based on the book by Sara Gruen, Water For Elephants is an easy-on-the eye romance, offering up the dreamy prospect of Robert Pattinson at the circus. Set in America during the grip of the Great Depression, it tells the story of a young would-be vet Jacob Jankowski (Pattinson) who loses his parents suddenly and ends up joining The Benzini Brothers circus troupe.

The circus isn't a friendly place; it truly is a world of its own and nobody wants to welcome young Jacob into the family apart from a few, the main pal of his being an older man called Camel. Jacob soon meets August (Christoph Waltz), the head trainer who allows him to stay with them in exchange for his veterinary skills.

Marlena (Reese Witherspoon) is the wife of August and the star of his show. Unfortunately, one of the horses for her act passes and August is left without a lead piece; something that can kill a circus, especially in depression-era conditions.

When things are about to go bust for the circus August purchases Rosie, a 9-foot-tall elephant that instantly becomes one of the most loveable movie characters of 2011. Jacob is put in charge of training her. And it is here that his growing illicit romance with Marlena takes root.


We follow this ménage a trois (or quatre, if you include Rosie) through the movie, which is interspersed with awkward moments and mild brutality as well as an adequate look at 1930s America. It's a bit depressing (pun intended) and gloomy, but the glitz and glamour of the circus prevents the film from dragging.

While Pattinson, playing a tanned and smiling young intellectual (we're used to seeing him play an anaemic misery in Twilight) is the draw for the movie, he is not the reason you should see it. He's not a bad actor by any stretch of the imagination, but the role of the kindly, handsome vet is overshadowed by others. R-Pattz fangirls will love it because, well, they adore him and every move he makes - but don't let this put you off seeing it; this is really not his film at all.

Despite the glossy Pattinson and Witherspoon poster, the real reason for watching Water For Elephants is Waltz, who plays the corrupt August with such aptitude, he'll leave you trembling in your seat. He has the knack for being both charismatic and terrifying simultaneously; a flair that won him a well-deserved Oscar for Inglourious Basterds. He makes traditional villains look like puppies with his disarming mixture of friendliness and tyranny.

Witherspoon is a tough, believable Marlena, dazzling in a 1930s circus guise and looking stunning atop an elephant. The strength and fragility of her character are well balanced and, despite the chemistry between her and Pattinson falling a bit flat, she has a moving bond with the animals and a believable fear of August.

It's heart-warming as well as horrifying (one rather violent man versus pachyderm exchange in particular will leave you reeling). The smart visuals and the subtle nuances of the characters are the strengths of Water For Elephants. But Pattinson and Witherspoon's forgettable romance leaves it a centerpiece short of a circus.