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Water for Elephants: Hit or Miss?

By Carly Rech

This movie has it all: romance, action, and drama! 

Sara Gruen’s gritty and rough best-selling novel, Water for Elephants, was transformed into a fun, respectable film by Fox’s screenwriter, Richard LaGravenese. Although the plot changed from book to movie, it was a good transformation leading to a great story. 

Water for Elephants is set during the tough times of the Great Depression in the early 1930’s.  Jacob (Robert Pattinson), a Cornell veterinary school student, jumps a train after losing his family, home, and future business only to find himself with a traveling circus.  Because of his skills with animals, Jacob is eventually hired as the Benzini Brothers Circus’ vet and is taken under the wing of the bipolar owner, August (Christopher Waltz).

With his new job, Jacob is forced to spend the majority of his time with August and his young wife Marlena (Reese Witherspoon).  Jacob enjoys working with Marlena and the animals, especially the new elephant, but quickly witnesses the corrupt ways of the circus business:  men red lighted, workers not paid, animals abused and rubes cheated out of their money.  Soon hatred burns between Jacob and August, because of different morals and loving the same woman, Marlena.  Although Jacob despises August, he feels he must stay with the circus in order to protect the animals and Marlena from August’s rage.

The director of this movie, Francis Lawrence, did a wonderful job showing the rugged and gritty setting while still keeping it clean and safe for kids to watch.  The setting was the same as the book, and the plot was even better.  It was nice how the story was framed by the elderly Jacob (Hal Holbrook) telling the story to a modern circus manager.  The only element this film lacked in was acting.

It wasn't that the acting was bad, Waltz and the supporting actors were great; it was Whitherspoon who didn't fit the part portrayed in the book.  Marlena wasn't as weak and was more respectable in the book than in the movie.  Other than that, this movie was a homerun.  I give it four stars out of five.