"Water For Elephants" Review by The Examiner

"Water For Elephants" Review by The Examiner

I’m beginning to think that knowing almost nothing about a movie is the best way to go anymore.

Maybe that’s why I liked “Water For Elephants” so much: Blissful ignorance. Not only did I not read the book, I didn’t even know the book existed. And, honest to God, I thought the movie was gonna be set in Africa and be a boring romance. Tastefully filmed on the African plains, but b-o-r-i-n-g!

SURPRISE!! (um, unless you have read the book) this movie is one of those “told in flashback” kinda deals, like Forrest Gump. It starts with the great Hal Holbrooke playing a man who must be in his late 90’s, who has stumbled into the trailer-office of a traveling circus. The circus business manager figures the old man must have drifted away from the local nursing home, but we soon learn that this codger has a history with circus life that goes back to that terrible year of 1931…. (this is where a looooong dissolve will take us back to yesteryear, and Holbrooke’s voice morphs into Robert Pattinson’s)

And, bang, we are in 1931 with Pattinson hoping a train and inadvertently joining a circus that’s struggling as it wends its way down the rails and across Depression Era America. Pattinson, who always has seemed like a flat-liner in the Twilight movies, perks up a bit here. He’s still the quietest guy in any scene, but this role, as a lad who goes from shit shoveler to staff veterinarian for the circus in a matter of days, is perfect for him. The owner of the circus is the deliciously evil Chrsitoph Waltz, who won an Oscar for playing a similar role in “Inglorious Basterds,” it’s true—however, we see more human sides to to this character, in glimpses. We also see that he thinks nothing of killing people or hurting animals to keep an eye on the bottom line.

And I’m just now mentioning Reese Witherspoon because, frankly, she’s the least interesting character in the movie—even behind the elephant and a Jack Russell terrier. She is the wife of the insanely jealous Waltz ( of course) AND the star attraction; the hot blonde atop the elephant in question.

I’m a sucker for a good romance. This is an “okay” romance. What I really dug about this was being transported to another time and place. It’s beautifully shot and skillfully directed and all the character roles strike just the right tone. I really felt vested in the guys in the background. And while I never fully believed in the “attraction” between Pattinson and Witherspoon, I had no doubt whatsoever that the old man, shedding tears as he concluded his story, loved that girl with all his heart.

Source => Examiner / Via => Thinking of Rob