WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (Francis Lawrence). 122 minutes. Opens Friday (April 22). See listing. Rating: NN
In movies for grown-?ups, the circus tends to be a place where darker passions get unleashed – Freaks and Nightmare Alley come to mind. Water For Elephants’ story – powerful husband, his younger wife and the handsome stranger – is certainly the stuff of lurid melodrama. But the movie self-?sabotages with a timid approach to sex, violence and passion.
Freshly orphaned and homeless in the 1930s, Jacob (Robert Pattinson) gets work with a travelling circus whose cruel owner, August (Christoph Waltz), hopes his new elephant act will stave off bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Jacob and August’s star performer, his wife Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), are falling for each other.
Pattinson gets lots of time to look soulful (if you’re a fan) or petulant (if you’re not) and makes cow eyes at Witherspoon, but they both save their best moments for scenes with Rosie the elephant, whose graceful movements and articulate trunk make her the highlight.
Waltz’s controlled sadism made more sense in the context of Inglourious Basterds, but it’s still fun to watch, and he gets the best lines. Aside from Rosie, most of the enjoyment comes from the evocation of the backstage life and slang of an old-?school circus.
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