"Water for Elephants"

On Friday we brought our boyfriends to the cinema to watch the premiere of "Water for Elpehants".

We had a really good night, and we loved the movie!

As a submission in english I wrote a little review of the movie, so I thought that I just as well could share it with you guys! Hope you might find some use in it! Love E <3

Movie review for "Water for Elephants"

Director: Francis Lawrence

Writer: Richard LaGravenese (Screenplay) and Sara Gruen (Novel)
Starring by: Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz

Genre: Drama

Year: 2011

The movie starts when we meet Jacob Jankowski (Robert Pattinson) as an old man. Jacob has managed to escape from his nursing home and found the way to a circus. A young circus worker takes him inside, out of the rain, and then the old man starts to talk about how much he loves circus and how he just to be under the big top. The circus worker becomes curious and encourages Jacob to share his story, and so he does.

Jacob continues to explain how he was an aspiring veterinarian in 1932, just about to finish his degree at Cornell, when his parents suddenly were killed in a car accident. Jacob lost everything that day, which resulted in a great grief. He ditched school and decided to go to the city instead, to search for work there. He hops on a train that turns out to belong to a traveling circus, called “The Benzini Brothers circus”. This circus travelling all over the united states during the depression and it here the new life of Jacob starts, which we get to follow closely through the old Jacobs excellent memory.

We follow Jacob adjust to the circus environment and how things work around there. There is no room for mistakes or laziness and one wrong move could cause Jacob a lot of trouble, as well as he could be thrown from the speeding train between stops.

The boss and ringmaster of the circus is August (Christoph Waltz) , known as a brutal, unpleasant and cruel man, who`s married to the beautiful and younger circus rider Marlena (Reese Witherspoon). August finds use in Jacob as a vet and Jacob starts to make a career within the circus.  When Jacob has to put down Marlena`s star-attraction horse, August replace it with a whiskey gurgling elephant, that’s supposed to be really stupid. Jacob gets the responsibility for the elephant, called Rosie, and he becomes the elephant keeper. Together with Marlena their supposed to bond with the elephant, as well as teach Rosie who`s the boss and all the tricks she needs to know.

August think the progress is to slow and ends up beating and abusing the poor elephant so hard her blood spurts, while Jacob and Marlena can`t do anything about it.  But later, when Jacob out of habit talks to Rosie in Polish, she understands and does everything he says. This is a really touching moment, when they understand that the elephant isn`t stupid at all, she just can`t understand English, only polish.

As Jacob and Marlena continue working together with the elephant that they deeply respect and love, they develop a strong friendship, but there is even more in the air. Jacob is falling in love with Marlena and the affection between them is growing. But she finds herself trapped in an unhappy marriage which she don`t dare to end. Except stolen glances, some dancing and a kiss they manage to keep this a secret, but one day jealous August become aware of the spark between the two, and then the real drama starts.

I think “Water for Elephants” was a really good movie! I haven`t read the book, but I think that doesn`t really matter. The actors are doing a brilliant job, especially Robert Pattison and Christoph Waltz. They make you feel like you`re in the movie, and when they feel hurt, you empathize with them. Christoph makes August easily the film's most complicated and interesting personality,when his character switches between unapologetic sadism and unexpected concern in such a convincing way.

But the film's most memorable presence is still Rosie, the elephant. She is making an amazing impression and respect for her character, for how skilled, smart and heartbreaking an elephant can be. She makes the atmosphere and the story appears so real, and the special connection between her, Jacob and Marlena is palpable and really touching.

The circus-environment makes the film a little special, and let us experience a lot of different personalities of the people working there, as well as all the exotic animals. The romance of the circus is really strong in the film, and I think that might be the element viewers will come home and remember the most.

The only thing that I felt lacked in the movie, was the convincing romantic chemistry that was supposed to be between Marlena( Reese Witherspoon) and Jacob (Robert Pattinson).  Of course you could feel some emotional connection between them, but still not enough to understand why they were willing to sacrifice so much for their love.

After all, I think “Water for Elephants” was a really good movie that I would recommend everyone to watch. It offers a lot to look at, as well as a touching view of how animal and humans can connect so strongly together. And at last, but not least, how an unexpected change in your life can turn out to be your life experience and the best thing that ever happened!