I'm parched, could you get me a glass of water?

After much anticipation, one of the few movies that I was excited to see was finally released (and no I'm not being sarcastic).  Water for Elephants is the story about an elderly man who reminisces about his past working for the Benzeni Brothers (basically the poor man's Ringling Brother's Circus) and what happens when he develops a love affair with the Ring Master's wife.  At first when you see that Robert Pattinson is the male lead, you are either going to think (1) "OMG I love him as a vampire and I want to be Bella to his swan," or (2)" R-Patz, the vampire with the misaligned nipples?  No thanks."  I have to admit that he did a nice job when he isn't gazing creepily on a woman in order to drink her blood.  Pattinson does deliver a solid performance.  Reese Witherspoon, as the vivacious Ring Master's wife, doesn't disappoint, but doesn't overwhelm the audience in this role.  One could not help but think that the great Kate Winslet could have brought her "assets" to the table in this role, but all in all Witherspoon plays the role of a tease perfectly.  However, Christoph Waltz playing the diabolical August seems to be typecast in the sinister villain role.  This worked for him in Quentin's hit Inglorious Bastards, but in this particular movie it is dull because we have already seen it before.  It is not to say that he doesn't do a good job, on the contrary, he is an exceptional actor, but the role seems to be the same.  One hopes that he will be able to break away from this "villainous character"; however, on the other hand one could argue "if it is not broke, why fix it?  He did win an Oscar after all for playing this type of a role."  I must be honest when I say I have NEVER liked circuses and this movie confirmed why I do not support them.  If you are a circus fan, that's great, but for those of you like me who hate animal cruelty, please be warned that they do mistreat the animals with cruelty.  The mistreatment of the Benzini animals is the driving force of this movie and moves the plot along.  Luckily Pattinson's character cannot stand the mistreatment done by Waltz's character.  There are some moments that are graphic, but it does show the reality of how animals were and are treated in circuses.  The movie was quite enjoyable and I would not hesitate to see it again.

Water for Elephants receives 8 Mendys!