Water for Elephants (2011) 20th Century Fox/Drama RT: 120 minutes Rated PG-13 (moments of intense violence and sexual content, severe cruelty to animals, some language) Director: Francis Lawrence Screenplay: Richard LaGravenese Music: James Newton Howard Cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto Release date: April 22, 2011 (US) Cast: Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz, Tai, Paul Schneider, Jim Norton, Hal Holbrook, Mark Povinelli, Richard Brake, Stephen Monroe Taylor, Ken Foree, Scott McDonald, James Frain, Sam Anderson, John Aylward, Brad Greenquist. Box Office: $58.7M (US)/$117M (World)
Rating: ***
Remember when you were a kid and dreamt of running away with the circus for a more adventure-filled life? Well, here’s a story about a young man who did.
Water for Elephants stars Robert Pattinson (Twilight) as Jacob, a young veterinary student at Cornell circa 1931 with a bright future ahead of him. That changes when he receives earth-shattering news just as he’s about to take his final exam. He learns his parents have been killed in a car accident and left him with nothing but debt. He has no other choice than to pack his few belongings and hit the road on foot.
Like many during the Great Depression, he walks the rails hoping to catch a free ride on the next freight train to the next big city to look for work. The one he hops on turns out to be a circus train heading for its next gig. The ringmaster August (Waltz, Inglorious Basterds), proprietor of Benzini Bros. traveling circus, hires him to shovel manure, but promotes him to head vet after learning of his background. During this time, he spots a vision of loveliness in the form of a platinum-blonde horse rider named Marlena (Witherspoon, Walk the Line) who also happens to be married to August.
We soon learn August is man with serious issues. Namely, he’s controlling and violent with his wife and everybody else. He nearly kills Jacob when he puts an injured horse out of its misery against his orders. Without a headlining act to bring in the “rubes”, August purchases an elephant named Rosie (Tai, Operation Dumbo Drop) with the intention of putting Marlena on it. She’s not wild about the idea, but August isn’t the kind of person you can just say no to. She and Jacob work together to train Rosie. Along the way, they fall in love. Naturally, this doesn’t set well with her possessive husband. What are two young people deeply in love supposed to do in a situation like this? Run away from the circus?
Water for Elephants is a good, satisfying, old-fashioned melodrama told in the form of flashback by an aged Jacob (Holbrook, The Firm) spinning his yarn to a young circus owner (Schneider, Lars and the Real Girl) in present-day 2011 (making him over 100YO). It’s punctuated by some impressive scenes inside the ring. The pachyderm, who only understands Polish, does some amazing things. 5’ 2” Reese looks even smaller when straddling the giant animal. There’s plenty of drama outside the ring too with Marlena torn between her cruel husband and a kind man who actually cares about her. There’s no dearth of colorful supporting characters like Jacob’s closest friends, an old circus hand named Camel (Norton, Straw Dogs) and midget clown Kinko (Povinelli, The Polar Express).
Witherspoon turns in a great performance as Marlena while Pattinson proves he can act when not sparkling away in the Twilight zone. Waltz delivers a truly sinister performance as the ringmaster who routinely beats and abuses the animals. I’m guessing he’s schizophrenic by the way he goes from congenial to cruel at a moment’s notice. The leads are a three-ring circus themselves with their conventional love triangle in an unusual setting. As for the chemistry between Witherspoon and Pattison, it’s not strong but it’s there. The best performance comes from Tai as Rosie, a lovable elephant with a taste for lemonade and booze.
Director Francis Lawrence (Constantine) endows Water for Elephants with a real feel for circus life. Not only does he perfectly capture the excitement under the big top, he also shows what it’s like after they fold up their tents and move on. It’s not glamorous. These people have no home other than the train that takes them from one town to the next. The workers live no better than the animals sleeping in cramped quarters and receiving no pay when attendance is low. However, once the big top goes up, it’s a magical world of clowns, acrobats, trained animals and death-defying stunts in front of a stunned crowd of rubes.
Under Lawrence’s tutelage, the aesthetics come together nicely. The production design by Jack Fisk is pretty amazing. By the looks of things, he must have studied old photos to get it this right. The costumes by Jacqueline West are positively gorgeous. Between her hair and outfits, Reese resembles the late Jean Harlow. I must also compliment Rodrigo Prieto’s beautiful cinematography. The contrast between the drab reality of life between shows and the bright lights of temporary stardom is the difference between night and twilight; one is only a little brighter than the other. It’s all helped by a lush melodramatic score by James Newton Howard.
Water for Elephants is the kind of melodrama Hollywood used to turn out with regularity. We don’t see much of its ilk anymore. That’s too bad. Movies like this tend to be quite satisfying even when they traverse into the ridiculous like when Marlena says to Jacob “Bring Rosie to my tent and don’t tell anyone.” Sure, as if nobody will notice a nearly five-ton animal walking across the grounds.
Based on the best-selling novel by Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants is dramatic, romantic and almost wistful for a time long gone. It has interesting and colorful characters like Camel who complains about Prohibition as he gulps down cheap whiskey. It has a bit of action too like the disaster that caused the circus to shut down for good. It’s a love story at heart and a pretty good one at that. It’s also about a young man looking for his place in the world and finding it in the most unusual of places. However you choose to look at it, it’s a good movie.
