Water for Elephants

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2012

A callow veterinary student (Robert Pattinson, still glowering) drops out, joins a circus and starts to fool around with the star attraction (a less-sparkling-than-usual Reese Witherspoon), who is inconveniently the wife of the mercurial owner (Christoph Waltz⎯Inglourious Basterds). While the movie offers superb attention to period detail in recreating Depression-era circus life, the love story needs passion, and the mismatched and scantily characterized leads generate little heat. But it’s worth the price of admission to watch the scene-stealing Waltz disappear into another oily-villain role.