Parents' Guide to Water for Elephants

Director Francis Lawrence isn't exactly known for giving audiences warm fuzzies. His previous movies includes the demonic horror thriller Constantine and the post-apocalyptic thriller I Am Legend. With Gruen's best-selling book as his source material here, Lawrence concentrates on more domestic horrors missing in his other films. As the sadistic August, Waltz simmers with alternating charm and viciousness -- two qualities he perfected in his Oscar-winning turn in Inglourious Basterds. He rules the circus like a fierce despot who believes that his decisions are for the common good, and his performance is basically another variation of his Nazi officer (which is good because he's up to task but also disappointing, because he's such a fantastic actor, and it would be refreshing to see him play a gentler, kinder character).

But who cares about violent ringmasters when there's Pattinson to ogle? The truth is that audiences looking for a romance so steamy that it blows up the Big Top will be sadly disappointed. Sure, Witherspoon and Pattinson give each other plenty of longing gazes, but aside from their shared love of the circus animals, there's not all that much to their relationship. The flashback framing story prepares you for a Notebook or Titanic-sized love story, but Marlena and Jacob just seem thrown together by virtue of their being equally frightened by August. It's just not the sizzling affair you'd expect in such an old-fashioned love story. Holbrook, however, is completely deserving of audience admiration. His scenes are few, but the octogenarian Oscar nominee possesses a vulnerable gravitas that actors a third his age should study.