The elephant in the room brought them together (This is my favourite shot in the entire movie.)

(Picture source: David James, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation)

I left this movie thinking about eyes, actor Robert Pattinson’s big blues, the elephant’s enormous gentle brown liquid ones, and even Christoph Waltz’s creepy evil peepers. It’s not hard since Director Francis Lawrence seems obsessed with closeups. But if the eyes are the windows to our souls, the shades were kept mostly closed throughout this movie and no one seems to be home. Certainly not for the lack of trying though.

Robert Pattinson plays Jacob, a young man who has lost everything after the death of his parents. With nothing to lose, he jumps on a train and lands in the rough and tumble world of the circus folk ruled by a heartless dictator prone to violent mood swings. Of course behind every evil king is a queen of hearts and Reese Witherspoon plays the long suffering wife Marlena with so much grace and poise. Jacob falls in love with Marlena, and the love triangle that results ends with tragic consequences.

This is a movie that is reminiscent of films from eras past. With a lush orchestral score (none does it better than James Newton Howard), epic size sets and a large cast of extras, this genre of movies hardly gets green-lit today, especially by Hollywood studios and we are poorer for it. The golden age of filmmaking was built on movies like that and certainly director Francis Lawrence tries to capture some of that glamour and spirit in Water for Elephants. Jacqueline West’s costumes are polished. She has a great eye for detail and her clothes add another layer of visual interest in each frame.

This review won’t be complete without some commentary about the pop culture phenomenon that is Robert Pattinson. I have to admit I loved him in the indie drama Remember Me. I think his success with the Twilight movies has clouded some people’s opinion of his acting. In my humble opinion, he is capable of being more than just a pretty brooding face. The role of Jacob (the name is so ironic if you’re a Twilight fan) isn’t that great to begin with. Jacob is boring and doesn’t develop very much in the story (not even in the book.) I wish the screenwriter could have taken liberties with the adaptation and make the character more likeable. Lots of the lines (and this goes for the other characters as well) were boring and added fluff and nothing else to each scene. It is thanks to the immense talent of both Waltz and Witherspoon that the characters remain believable and engaging.

This is a quiet romantic movie that shines in some places with that warm golden glow of old Hollywood. Water for Elephants isn’t the best example of a movie of its genre but I certainly hope it won’t be its last.

Rating: The book is better than the movie but only by a smidgen. Watch it if you’re a fan of Pattinson or Depression-era fashion.

Trivia: The costume designer Jacqueline West did the costumes for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (video interview) and my favourite Malick movie The New World. And yes, that’s Paul Schneider at the beginning of the movie!