Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants had everything going for it: a popular novel as its basis, and a spectacular cast: Twilight's Robert Pattinson, and Academy Award winners Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz.

The truth is, however, it doesn't hold together, and I think some of the fault is with Witherspoon. She doesn't seem to know how a depression history would play on a young beauty stuck in the circus with her Type A husband (played by Waltz, who is just brilliant here). Pattinson, I think, strikes the right chord: stupid when he should be, smart when he needs to be. But the whole story rests on whether you accept the relationship between the young vet (Pattinson) and Witherspoon's circus performer. I didn't for a minute.

But Waltz is worth watching. His circus owner rings true as a perfectionist who wants his circus to be a rival to Ringling Bros, despite the fact that his circus isn't family-friendly, and who's willing to spend any extra funds he has on an elephant instead of pay his workers.

The ending was interesting, but not terribly believable.

Thumb's down for this disappointing adaptation.