Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants

Rating 5 out of 10

I'm not sure what I was expecting out of this movie.  I guess I was mostly hoping it wouldn't put me to sleep.  Several friends have recommended the book so I thought the movie would be good.  I can't say this movie was bad.  It was just slow.  In my opinion the movie was terribly miscast.

The movie is about a young man (Jacob) close to graduating college in 1931 when his parents die leaving him no money to finish.  He goes on the road and by accident stumbles into a traveling circus.  In a time when there are no jobs Jacob becomes the Vet in charge of taking care of the animals.  He promptly falls in love with the wife of the evil man that runs the circus (and his wife) with an iron fist.  Eventually an elephant is added to the circus.  Not sure why this is so important it goes with the title of the book and film nor do I know what the water has to do with anything.  Maybe someone that read the book can shed some light on that.

As I said before the biggest problem I found with the movie was the casting.  I know there are alot of females that are team Edward from Twilight (my daughter Stacy heads the list) and think Robert Pattinson is a hunky dude.  To me he has a dopey stare in his acting that makes me wonder what it would be like to pop him upside the head. I generally like Reese Witherspoon, but here she came across as dull and didn't fit the era she was playing.

Unfortunately you can watch the trailer and guess how the rest of the movie is going to go and you will most likely be right on.  Not a bad movie just slow.