Movie Review: Water for Elephants (4 Stars)

August (Christoph Waltz) rules "the greatest show on Earth" with an iron fist. No one dies until he says so, and this includes his circus employees. His overpowering personality is strengthened by alcoholism and anger, which give way to anything he desires.

He doesn't take kindly to Jacob Jankowski (Robert Pattinson), a young man who studied veterinary medicine at Cornell University. Pattinson finds himself jumping the rails into Waltz's circus cars when life threw him for a curve ball. And it's in Waltz's circus where the tension builds and love surfaces.

August holds true to his belief that no one dies without his approval, but Jankowski took it upon himself to kill the star attraction, a beautiful white horse, when she was suffering. Later in the film, she would be replaced by Rosie, a female circus elephant who understood Polish commands. However, Rosie would have a few run-ins with August's temper and need to drink some whiskey. It was Jankowski who was Rosie's sole protector, but he was also looking out for Marina's behalf. 

The love triangle begins when Marina allows herself to be attracted to Jacob. She waits until August is drunk and sends him to bed, then dances with Jacob. She and Jacob express friendly glances towards one another through the circus shows, but it's nothing too sexual to give the audience arouse. In fact, the sexual appeal between these two characters is what was missing. This could have made the film better and made it move along much quicker. While later in the film Jacob takes on a heroic role against August, the audience members almost expect him to protect her. He has spent the entire movie flirting with her, not doing much else.

In the end, August is the one who dies in the circus, but not by who audience members would suspect. It's a surprise ending to a wonderful film. Sure, it could have been better. However, it had a star actress who performed a fabulous role.  It gives audience members a great inside-look at what it was like in the Great Depression. The scene that is portrayed shows that life was not easy, that you had to work hard to get where you wanted to be. I think hard work affected the times they lived in, and it shows well in this film.