Review: Water For Elephants

Dir. Francis Lawrence
United States
122 Mins
2011

Based on the historical novel of the same title and set in the early years of the Great Depression, Water For Elephants stars Twilight‘s Robert Pattinson as Jacob Jankowski, a Cornell University veterinarian student who during the preparation for his final exam is given the tragic news that both his parents were involved in a fatal automobile accident. In wake of their passing, he leaves his program just short of graduation and heads out on foot, unsure of what the future holds.

One night Jacob unknowingly boards a passing circus train, which ends up being the travelling home of the Benzini Brothers’ Most Spectacular Show on Earth. The circus is led by the hot tempered August Rosenbluth (played by Christoph Waltz), who hires Jacob because of his impressive talents with animals, and also believing him to be a Cornell graduate.

Soon Jacob is introduced to Marlena (played by Reese Witherspoon); the biggest star of the Benzini Brothers’ act, who inconveniently also happens to be August’s wife. From the very moment he lays eyes on Marlena, he immediately takes a liking to her, and she to him, though her affection is more discreet for fear of the violent and inevitable backlash from her husband.

When Jacob is forced to put down the show’s injured prized stallion, August goes out and splurges the company’s savings on a massive elephant in the hopes that the expense would pay off in terms of sold out performances. In preparation for the elephant act, Jacob and Marlena work together with a mutual respect for the giant mammal; a stark contrast to August’s brutal tactics, which act as a driving force in pushing Marlena away into the arms of Jacob. But, when August catches wind of this budding romance, he acts quickly and violently to put an end to it.

Water For Elephants captures what everyday circus life must have been like during the depression. Travelling city to city, town to town; setting up the attractions in the morning and taking them down moments after the stands are emptied. And all the while with the hope that enough people will show up for everyone to be paid for their hard days work.

Christoph Waltz is one terrifying man and his performance here as the combative circus boss, August Rosenbluth, only further accentuates this notion. His performance brings back memories of his haunting portrayal of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa in Quentin Taratino’s World War II epic, Inglourious Basterds. Waltz has this remarkable ability to illicit fear in the supporting characters on screen, which reverberates off screen to those in the audience.

In many ways, Water For Elephants is a magical film; from its picturesque cinematography, to the sweeping musical score composed by the great James Newton Howard, and the classic love story taken right from the pages of Sara Gruen’s popular novel. But, in another way it’s not nearly as magical as it otherwise could have been. Surprisingly enough, there is limited on-screen chemistry between Pattinson and Witherspoon, which drains out the effectiveness of later scenes; important scenes; and scenes which were meant to be emotionally gratifying, but ultimately were not as a result. Certainly some of this is on the account of the characters and their attempt to hide their feelings from August and the Benzini Brothers’ clan, however there definitely is a connectivity that is absence between the two leading stars which hinders the film’s overall effectiveness. Nevertheless, in a year so far filled with disappointing blockbusters, poorly crafted teenage supernatural thrillers, and two despicable Nicholas Cage films, Water For Elephants is a gorgeous looking picture that embodies Robert Pattinson’s strongest performance to date, and illustrates that the Twilight star has a bright future outside of the wildly popular vampire franchise.

Christopher Misch

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I've always loved movies, but it wasn't until under the tutelage of Professor Garry Leonard at the University of Toronto that my passion for the industry became an understanding of an art form. With a specific fascination in both the western genre and Asian cinema in general, I am of the view that good movies are either enlightening or entertaining, and if you are truly lucky they are both.

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