Good movies leave you with the sense that they were there, and they give you a pleasant feeling, no matter the content. Great movies, you can touch; that sense of remembrance is tangible, and when the movie is over, you want more. Water for Elephants is a great movie, and probably the best circus movie I’ve seen.
Pattinson continues to grow out of Edward Cullen from the Twilight films and into his own non-glittering skin. He showed genuine promise in Allen Coulter’s Remember Me (2010), and here he’s so completely in character that I forgot I was watching Robert Pattinson; he has the stuff leading men are made of. Waltz proves his Oscar win for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (2009) was no fluke; his August is a deep man, played with conviction, and it’s that commitment to his larger-than-life, yet never over-the-top performance that helps ground the film. It’s beautiful work.
Here’s a video of At The Movies Reviewing Water for Elephants.
*WARNING* if you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t watch it: lots of scenes from the movie.
As this story flashed back from a modern day circus to one of the 1930s, life on a circus train is exciting and unusual, dangerous and intense. Water for Elephants took the audience on board the circus train and the ride it took across a country that was tumultuous as it was trying to rebound from the Great Depression. In this adaptation of a well-loved book, a young veterinary student, played by Robert Pattinson, finds his life uprooted and literally jumps on the first train he can get his hands on. And the people and animals he meets turn his life completely upside down, particularly a beautiful woman played by the elegant and passionate Reese Witherspoon. However, his innocence and continuous need to try to help creates more problems then he corrects. But through his own meddling, he finds more out of life and forces others to discover the same while standing up for what is right.
The film is a well-orchestrated production as it transported me back to this time and place. It is a true depiction of the times. The plot recreated a time that money was tight and entertainment was nothing like today’s modern culture. I think the similarities between today’s economic state and this post-depression piece is obvious for audiences. Families went to the circus together and appreciated the simplicity of the show. And those days it was considered a treat as there was not a TV or computer in every household, shows were where people escaped their lives. It was far more common for people to abandon their lives and jump on trains. There is a charm to the circus where families went for a laugh and to be deceived by the fantasy. It was a place to escape the financial woes. The whimsy of the circus has been lost in today’s society, but the idea of the illusion is still something many people search for.
Sometimes in life, things don’t work out as we planned. What looks like a stroke of bad fortune can still turn out wonderfully later on in life.
So is the story of Jacob Jankowski, played by Robert Pattinson, in “Water for Elephants.”
Even during the Depression year of 1931, Jacob looks like he has a bright future ahead. He is ready to graduate from Ivy League Cornell, and its veterinarian school.
During his final exam, Jacob is interrupted by the horrible news that his parents have died in an automobile accident. He decides not finish school, and he can’t keep his parents home because it has a bank lien on it.
Jacob is broke and destitute. Walking to the next big town to find work, he jumps a train and finds out it’s a travelling circus. This is not the life that Jacob planned for, but he’s game.
The mean, narcissist owner of the circus, August (Christoph Waltz) takes a liking to Jacob and Jacob takes a liking to August’s wife – the beautiful and talented circus performer Marlena (Reese Witherspoon).
Jacob loves her beauty and kindness, and she grows to love him, but August will find out.
This is truly an excellent film and the director and the screenwriters bring this movie to an emotional and exciting ending.
Hal Holbrook did a wonderful job in the role of Old Jacob Jankowski, who recounts his past.
“Water for Elephants”: Tragedy pulls Cornell student Jacob (Robert Pattinson) from his Depression-era veterinary track and deposits him in a traveling circus.
There he swoons for the beautiful performer Marlena (Reese Witherspoon) who is overseen by her sadistic husband and circus owner August (Christoph Waltz). Enter Rosie, an orphaned elephant whose presence fills seats during a time of crisis.
Following closely Sara Gruen’s best-seller, “Water” pays an endearing homage to the tight circus community and their hierarchical albeit daunting existence. Had the film been released later in the year, Waltz’s performance would have been talked about as award material. As for the Witherspoon/Pattinson romance, the story calls for it to build gradually yet palpably, and indeed, moviegoers we polled unanimously voiced enthusiasm for the couple.
Hal Holbrook as an elderly Jacob tells the tale, contributing an emotional depth to a long ago romance.
At 83 percent Audience Approval, this is good old-fashioned must-see romance. Viewers reported: “I liked both the book and the movie,” … “Fantastic romance,” … “Great casting, perfect performances,” … “I loved the whole Depression-era big top circus theme. Very fascinating” and “Mostly true to the book.” (many)
From Entertainment.ie:
Sweet but surprisingly understated, this book adaptation may be slow for a modern Hollywood production, but it oozes class. I Am Legend director Lawrence has moved as far away from the hyper-reality of that world as possible, and delivered a genuinely lovely film in the process. Fans of Pattinson will also be delighted to learn that the Twilight heartthrob carries his first big-budgeted foray outside of the fang-filled world admirably.
The passionate words of author Sara Gruen are beautifully envisioned by director Francis Lawrence’s (“I Am Legend,” 2007) adaptation of her best-selling novel “Water for Elephants.” The film paints a canvas of a depression-era landscape, a lavish circus production and an unrequited romance.
With a gifted cast, stunning visuals, a moving story, and, yes, a lovable elephant, Lawrence and screenwriter Richard LaGravenese (“The Bridges of Madison County,” 1995) have crafted the year’s first great film.
“Twilight” superstar Robert Pattinson breathes life into the character of Jacob Jankowski whose extraordinary life is told as a flashback by the great Hal Holbrook.
Jacob is a charming, bright young student studying veterinary medicine at Cornell University. Before he’s able to secure his license, tragedy ensues with the death of his two Polish-immigrant parents.
He is left orphaned and homeless, carrying his possessions in a briefcase and traveling down an isolated railroad track. He hops on the first train that approaches and, conveniently enough, finds it is a majestic circus train with a myriad of colorful and eccentric characters.
However, Jacob’s concentration is on the show’s star attraction — Marlena (Reese Witherspoon). This poses a dilemma for Marlena’s husband, the sadistic ringmaster August (Chistoph Waltz) who attempts to throw Jacob off the train until he learns of his skills with animals.
These skills come in handy when he and Marlena are assigned to train the show’s newest member, a four-ton, middle-aged elephant named Rosie. As the two tackle this task, they form a romantic bond. Now, cast into the effervescent world of entertainment, Jacob has the life he’s always dreamed of.
The only thing missing is a ravishing partner to share it with, an aspiration the menacing August will stop at nothing to dismantle.
The movie is a work of passion full of energy and emotion. Gruen’s tale of a once-crumbling economic world splashed with vibrant colors and the prospect of hope makes for a tasty treat.
However, the film is not merely eye candy. Waltz is as bloody brilliant as August, charming and pleasant on the outside but cruel and rotten at his core.
Twi-hard fans will adore their beloved Pattinson proving he has more range and depth than his beastly alter-ego permits him to explore. He and Witherspoon make an electric romantic duo.
Though in all fairness, the true scene-stealer of the film is the enormously talented Rosie. The four-ton beauty has more brains and personality than her co-stars combined.
This sweeping romantic spectacle has something special to offer everyone.
I knew absolutely nothing about “Water for Elephants”; the previews looked nothing special and I’m not a huge Reese Witherspoon fan.
The “only thing” I knew about this a book got huge play on one of Oprah’s early (like 5 years ago) book of the month selection.
The movie is just so well done and so well cast. Who the heck is Robert Pattinson? We are talking a serious heart throb who can really act. Totally dominates the screen and is the hero on to the animals and people alike.
Who the heck is Christoph Waltz? What a killer good role he plays as the sadistic yet charming husband and circus owner. You just hate him yet enjoy watching him on screen because you know when he’s nice (bad is around the corner) and visa versa.
I even came to really like Reese Witherspoon in this role and she played it masterfully.
I haven’t heard a round of applause like this at the end of a movie in a long time.
Water for Elephants stars Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon as two people who find love amidst the Great Depression while working for a traveling circus. The movie is based on the acclaimed bestseller by Sara Gruen and directed by Francis Lawrence.
Pattinson plays Jacob Jankowski, a veterinary student looking forward to starting his career. Tragedy strikes when Jacob’s parents are killed in an accident and Jacob, in a last minute decision, decides to abandon his studies. He runs away and one night hops aboard a passing train. He discovers that the train he boarded is in actuality a traveling circus that has seen better days.
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