“Robert Pattinson’s Sideshow”
The circus is often described as “the greatest show on earth”. But music video director Francis Lawrence shows that he’s incapable of cinematic greatness. His film version of the popular novel “Water For Elephants” is dull and lifeless. Even with ace screenwriter Richard LaGravenese (“The Bridges Of Madison County”) on board, Lawrence is more concerned with the visuals rather than with getting any real emotion to leap off the pages and on to the screen.
The casting of “Twilight’s” sexy vampire Robert Pattinson may have been viewed as money in the bank by producers, but Pattinson meanders through this movie in a zombie-like trance offering no romantic chemistry with Reese Witherspoon. When we meet Reese’s character, she is married to the villain of the story played with poisonous venom by Christoph Waltz. Waltz plays the owner of a traveling circus who employs Pattinson as a veterinarian to care for his mistreated animals.