Water for Elephants

Based on the book by Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants follows Depression-era veterinarian Jacob Jankowski (Robert Pattinson) as he impulsively decides to join a traveling circus – with problems ensuing as Jacob begins to fall for the wife (Reese Witherspoon’s Marlena) of owner/animal trainer August Rosenbluth (Christoph Waltz). There’s little doubt that Water for Elephants gets off to an exceedingly promising start, as filmmaker Francis Lawrence, working from Richard LaGravenese’s screennplay, opens the proceedings with a modern-day sequence revolving around an older Jacob’s (Hal Holbrook) arrival at a contemporary circus. It’s a stirring sequence that’s heightened by Holbrook’s engaging, downright poignant performance, with the film’s compulsively watchable atmosphere perpetuated by the initial scenes set within the past – as Lawrence does a nice job of infusing such moments with a melodramatic and suitably old-fashioned feel that proves impossible to resist. It’s only as the novelty of the movie’s off-kilter locale wears off that its deficiencies start to become clear, with the three leads’ ill-fated efforts at stepping into the shoes of their respective characters certainly standing as the most obvious example of this. (Waltz fares especially poorly, as the actor delivers an unreasonably broad turn that sucks the energy out of the movie on an all-too-frequent basis.) The episodic nature of LaGravenese’s screenplay ensures that Water for Elephants is subsequently only enthralling in spurts, with the number of talky, pointless sequences generally (and increasingly) outweighing moments of an organic and wholeheartedly gripping variety (eg August takes out his considerable rage on an elephant). The absence of chemistry between Jacob and Marlena cements Water for Elephants‘ place as a fairly misbegotten adaptation, which is a shame, really, given the strength of the source material and the talent both in front of and behind the camera.

**1/2 out of ****