Movie Review: Water for Elephants

Time for my first blog post, hooray! For my first post I decided to go with a movie review. I saw this movie about two months ago so its about time that I posted a review for it.

Water for Elephants

This movie was absolutely lovely. Initially, I was concerned about the casting of Robert Pattinson in any role other than a vampire (as I am sure many others were) but I was pleasantly surprised by the depth and realness he brought to the character. Plus, his handsome face does prove to be a charming presence on the big screen.

I know that part of the appeal of the movie were the animals, but come on, everyone loves the circus! The movie had some cute and fun scenes with the elephant. I even laughed out loud a few times, which is always a plus.

Be warned- at times the violence in the movie was a bit much and I even had to cover my eyes/look away. In particular the portrayed animal cruelty towards the circus animals was gruesome. There were also a few incidents of extreme violence towards Reese Witherspoon's character (and others) that I found to be kind of rough for a movie framed as "romantic".

It should be noted that the movie is a screen adaptation of the book (same title). Several friends who have read the book said the movie was a very fair portrayal and did justice to the book. I have not read the book, but after watching the movie and hearing peer reviews I do think it will be next on my reading list!

The book and movie are told from the male's perspective (Robert Pattinson's character) and I actually found it to be refreshing. It was a nice balance of love without getting too emotional or over-the-top dramatic like many romantic movies from the female perspective tend to be. I think that the story coming from a male also helped the movie to appeal to men- I know that my father really wanted to see the movie!

Overall, the movie was a beautiful blend of action and romance that held my attention and heart throughout.

See this movie if: you want a date night movie that both the man and the woman will love, you want to watch a good movie with your girl friends, you love Robert Pattinson, you love animals, you love the circus, you like good movies.


Do NOT see this movie if: you cannot handle any amount of violence, you cannot handle animal cruelty/violence, you hate Robert Pattinson, you do not like movies with romantic plots.