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Water for Elephants

Play trailer Poster for Water for Elephants PG-13 Released Apr 22, 2011 2h 1m Drama Romance Play Trailer Watchlist
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60% Tomatometer 196 Reviews 70% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
Jacob Jankowski (Robert Pattinson), a veterinary student, is close to graduating when a terrible tragedy forces him to leave school. With nowhere else to go, he hops on a passing train and finds it belongs to a traveling circus. Jacob takes a job as an animal caretaker and meets Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), a beautiful circus performer. Their shared compassion for a special elephant named Rosie leads to love, but August (Christoph Waltz), Marlena's cruel husband, stands in their way.
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Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants

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Critics Consensus

It's a tale tastefully told and beautifully filmed, but Water for Elephants suffers from a pronounced lack of chemistry between its leads.

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Critics Reviews

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Nell Minow Movie Mom Rated: B Feb 18, 2012 Full Review Leah Rozen TheWrap Supporting characters are too hastily sketched in, serving only to further the unsmooth course of true love. Oct 7, 2011 Full Review Jim Schembri The Age (Australia) There's no doubting the luscious detail and feel for the period, but the love triangle that inevitable kicks in is a little too rote, even for those in a forgiving mood. Rated: 2.5/5 Jun 16, 2011 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review With a bit more style and realism, the film could have been something truly great; however, in this case, good is just good enough. Rated: 3/4 Jul 31, 2023 Full Review Rene Jordan El Nuevo Herald (Miami) Withered and boorish. [Full review in Spanish] Oct 11, 2022 Full Review Don Shanahan Every Movie Has a Lesson In this film, LaGravenese squeezes the melodrama so well that you may feel like you just had your mouth washed out with soap. Rated: 2/5 Mar 8, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Yvonne T Unbearable stopped after 1h and would like that hour back. Flat uninspired bad acting boring and no chemistry. Turned off when elephant came into the picture hard to watch. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 05/09/25 Full Review Audience Member this movie is way rougher than i remember. period drama my ass. just an excuse and a side story to make a twilight movie at the end of the day, but this has elephants. Anyway poor dialogue, half of the concepts dont have any ground the other half dont cover any of the arcs started. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 06/17/25 Full Review Dulce P I love this movie. Robert is incredible so is Reese and Christophor. I loveeeeeeeeee the acting and the scenes. It is my favorite movie Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/15/25 Full Review Jay C Great movie, just watched it today for the first time, highly recommend. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/20/24 Full Review Julian Rex M It doesn't have as much on its mind as a film with this scope should and would've benefited from a lack of Reese Witherspoon's rote chemistry and uninteresting rendering of her character, but Water for Elephants' spectacular cinematography and masterful direction manage to mostly carry this film to a satisfying–if almost wholly forgettable–conclusion. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 11/23/24 Full Review Cfunk D I find it to be an enjoyable movie. Reese Witherspoon doesn't play romantic role well. The message is great and entertaining movie. Love the circus and great depression mix. I never read the book so I won't give a low rating just because "the book was better" lol Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/06/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Water for Elephants

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Cast & Crew

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Francis Lawrence

Director

Reese Witherspoon

Marlena

Robert Pattinson

Jacob

Christoph Waltz

August

Paul Schneider

Charlie

Jim Norton

Camel

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Water for Elephants

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Movie Info

Synopsis Jacob Jankowski (Robert Pattinson), a veterinary student, is close to graduating when a terrible tragedy forces him to leave school. With nowhere else to go, he hops on a passing train and finds it belongs to a traveling circus. Jacob takes a job as an animal caretaker and meets Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), a beautiful circus performer. Their shared compassion for a special elephant named Rosie leads to love, but August (Christoph Waltz), Marlena's cruel husband, stands in their way.
Director
Francis Lawrence
Producer
Gil Netter, Erwin Stoff, Andrew R. Tennenbaum
Screenwriter
Richard LaGravenese, Sara Gruen
Distributor
20th Century Fox
Production Co
Flashpoint, Gil Netter, 3 Arts Entertainment
Rating
PG-13 (Sexual Content|Moments of Intense Violence)
Genre
Drama, Romance
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 22, 2011, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 1, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$58.7M
Runtime
2h 1m
Sound Mix
SDDS, Dolby Digital, Datasat
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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