6/10
It would take a heart of stone to resist this sentimental and nostalgic romantic drama set in Depression-era America and located in a circus. Last time I looked, I had the regulation size blood-pumper, and with only a few reservations, I enjoyed the film.
Bookended in the modern era by Hal Holbrook as the much older Robert Pattinson, we soon travel back to 1931, where Jacob (Pattinson) is on the verge of a great life, about to take his finals at Cornell to become a vet, and with the woman of his dreams smiling sweetly at him. But his parents' sudden death, and his consequent poverty leave him as just another homeless young man without work or prospects. Until he jumps aboard a train and winds up at the circus. Taken in by the hands, he is nearly chucked off again by the charming brute of an owner, August (Christoph Waltz), who decides to retain the youth's services on the basis that he is a vet. And the third part of the eternal triangle is completed by August's wife and star act Marlena (Reese Witherspoon).
That's enough plot to be going on with, though I should also mention the later arrival of Rosie, the elephant, who steals every scene she's in with shameless pachydermic abandon. When you see a film like this, you wonder why they don't make circus films any more, and I guess the answer is that mostly, they don't make circuses any more. The roar of the greasepaint, and the smell of the crowd are experiences that most kids don't get any more, in a less innocent era, where all miracles can be performed at the click of a switch. So f you don't want to have a taste of what we miss, get a load of Water For Elephants.
I assume you will have guessed that Jacob is sensitive and handsome, August is only a hair trigger away from bashing someone's brains in, and Marlena is beginning to wonder whether it might be her brains one of these days, and that Jacob is soooo handsome. It's all as predictable as you could wish, and conducted with zest and enthusiasm (no camping it up), so that despite the railway lines of the plot that mean that the film can only go in one direction, I found myself rooting for our hero and heroine.
My reservations are mainly to do with the limitations of Reese and Robert. She looks as much like a 30s film star as you could ask, but she lacks the erotic sizzle of Mae West and Jean Harlow, coming off more as a good sport with blonde hair. Pattinson, meanwhile has obviously decided to convince us (and her) of his charm and gallantry by smiling incessantly. It's left to Waltz (from Inglourious Basterds) to chew the carpet as a cross between your best friend and worst enemy. And the final 15 minutes of the film has rather too much in the way of melodrama for my taste, although it also fulfils its destiny by getting the film to exactly where you want it to get to.
