Amy, Jack, and I enjoyed this adaptation of the best-selling novel by Sara Gruen, about Jacob, a young man who joins the circus in 1931 and finds his purpose among those that work there, including a wonderful trained elephant. Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz are great and I didn't hate Robert Pattinson, though I expected to. Witherspoon (my faves: her Oscar-winning Walk the Line (2005), as well as Pleasantville (1998), Legally Blonde (2001), Vanity Fair (2004), and most of all Election (1999)) gives us plenty to think about as Marlena, the woman in the triangle between Jacob and her husband August, the circus ringleader. So far, on this side of the Atlantic, German-born Waltz has been brilliant playing awful guys (in Inglourious Basterds, which won him an Oscar, and a small part in The Green Hornet) and his mercurial August is no exception. It's probably unfair that I predicted I'd dislike Pattinson, since I haven't seen any of the Twilight movies, but I just don't find him appealing, as do legions of young girls. He does carry the movie, regardless, and that's saying something for the 25 year old, though he has a lot of help from the rest, including Rosie the elephant, played by Tai the elephant. This creature is amazing. I also liked the circus stunts, especially the twirling thing Witherspoon (or her double) does on the door of the big top. Apparently Witherspoon actually did at least one stunt herself, riding two horses with one foot on each, but it was cut. One fun bit of trivia is that Pattinson shot a scene in Vanity Fair, playing the son of Witherspoon's Becky Sharp, but it, too, was edited out.
This is the third feature for director Francis Lawrence (his career was in music videos; I liked his I Am Legend (2007), in which a dog co-starred with Will Smith) and his pacing is good. Richard LaGravenese (Oscar-nominated for the outstanding The Fisher King (1991), also co-wrote The Ref (1994) and adapted The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Unstrung Heroes (1995), and The Horse Whisperer (1998)) obviously helped with the pacing when he adapted Gruen's novel.
I added the novel to my online list of read books in August of 2008 (it was published in 2006), when I started adding, and don't have a strong recollection of it (Amy read it after I did and Jack has not), but I do remember that, like the movie, it begins with Jacob as an old man, and Hal Holbrook is perfect for that part. The movie is bookended (chapters in the beginning and end) by old Jacob telling his stories to a young man from the present day, played by Paul Schneider (Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Bright Star).
The music (here's a suite--a series of clips edited together, or go to this link and follow down the OST (original soundtrack) items) by the prolific James Newton Howard (after I wrote about him in Salt he scored The Green Hornet) is appropriately grand and right for 1930's America. Photography by Rodrigo Prieto (see Broken Embraces for my faves; he also shot Biutiful) is gorgeous. And I wouldn't be at all surprised to see costume designer Jacqueline West get an Oscar nod for this, as she did for Quills (2000) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (she also designed The Banger Sisters (2002), State of Play, and The Social Network, among others).
Amy had asked that we save this and African Cats for her short visit home, and we're all glad we saw them. We are firmly with audiences on rottentomatoes, who scored it 82% vs. the critics' 58%.
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