Water for Elephants

Yesterday I saw "Water for Elephants." This is a very well-done movie that I highly recommend. I wasn't sure what to expect with Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattison, and even though many critics didn't feel the fire, I thought it worked. There were no remnants of a vampire about Pattison and you did care about him. I felt the frustration his character was experiencing, and the cruel circus owner/ringmaster August played by Christoph Waltz was right on. Reese was the abused wife---caught between love and hate. Afraid to stay but afraid to leave.

For me, the show stealer was Rosie the Elephant. What a love and how outraged I was when she was abused. She put me in mind of an elephant that used to be in some of the Las Vegas Hilton shows. The Hilton elephant Tanya was adorable---and she skipped with a nice pink bow tied around her tail. Back then I knew the sales manager at the Hilton, later the general manager of the Flamingo, and he said sometimes when things were slow they would take Tanya into the casino because she loved to pull the handles on the slots.

But I regress. This movie kept my attention all the way through with a cheer the hero, hiss the villain attitude. Oh yeah. I wouldn't be happy until August went down.

It's Saturday so this is short, but if you have a chance to see this movie by all means buy the ticket and travel back to 1931. Hal Holbrook, Pattison's character as a very old man, grabbed your heart.  Like I said, it has my recommendation.

Happy weekend.