Grrr. I have a problem with adapting literary works for the big screen. My problem is that you have no idea what you’re going to get. Sometimes they’re great (Big Fish is a fantastic novel and film), other times they’re awful (The Time Traveler’s Wife: excellent book, shitty movie), and other times they’re just weird (Twilight). I’m hoping that Water for Elephants falls into the first category.
The trailer does seem appealing. We seem to have a good love story set against the visually striking early days of the traveling circus, but we also have Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson. Pattinson hasn’t exactly been tested very well in films outside of the Twilight franchise (though he does seem to want to move away from that) and though Witherspoon has an Oscar, she hasn’t always made the best choices when it comes to her roles. The only completely solid casting choice is Christoph Waltz. I’d watch that guy anywhere, in anything.
Actually, scratch all that hesitation. If we can’t believe in Reese Witherspoon and elephants, what can we believe in? And after listening to the Twilight commentary with Pattinson (yeah, yeah, shut up) that dude has a good head on his shoulder. I think this will be a worthy adaptation.
