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Water For Elephants
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (26th February 2012). |
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The Film
 I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing that I still haven’t read Sara Gruen’s best-selling book “Water For Elephants”, despite the fact it’s sitting on my bookshelf. I’m thinking probably a bit of both. Having not read it, I’m surely better able to approach director Francis Lawrence and screenwriter Richard LaGravenese’s adaptation simply as a film, and judge the production only on its filmic merits, and whether or not it succeeds as a 2-hour escape into the romanticized world of 1930's Americana and the circus culture, which it mostly does, as opposed to constantly contrasting it to the unfortunately incomparable medium of the written word. And yet, at the same time, I’m at somewhat of a disadvantage having never touched Gruen’s 300-plus page tome, because I honestly don’t know if the major fault I find with Lawrence and LaGravenese’s film stems from the source material and its characters, or is simply a problem in casting actors who have very little chemistry together. While taking his final exams for veterinary medicine at Cornell University, Jacob Jankowski (Robert Pattinson) is interrupted by the dean and told that his Polish-immigrant parents died in a car crash. It turns out his father, also a vet, mortgaged the house and his business to put Jacob through school. And in their death, the elder Jankowski’s belongings reverted to the bank. Left penniless and homeless, rather than return to school and graduate, Jacob runs away to find himself. Literally hopping a train and riding the rails like some Depression-era hobo—which, I suppose, is fitting; “Elephants” uses the downturn of the 1930's and America’s Dust Bowl as a backdrop for its story—Jacob soon finds himself joining a circus, and convinces the owner, August Rosenbluth (Christoph Waltz), to take him on as a vet, despite the absence of credentials. That Jacob never graduated doesn’t really phase August, because, like most businesses and people in the Great Depression, Rosenbluth’s own Benzini Brothers Circus has been hit hard by the collapse of the financial system. August is struggling to keep his crew flush and the animals fed. The men haven’t been paid in weeks; the Lions are eating rotten, maggot-infested, meat. And it’s the latter that has August thinking any vet—even one with the knowledge, if, technically, not the degree—is better than no veterinarian at all. The sickly animals need to be kept alive to keep the minuscule amounts of cash flowing, and the circus’ train going down the tracks to the next town. But there’s no point in denying it: August’s circus is slowly dying. And the showman’s more sadistic side is showing through more and more with each passing day of decay and dwindling profits. Rumors of less-liked acts getting thrown from the moving train in the middle of the night abound. And, as he learns by quietly observing from afar, Jacob soon sees that August really is much more dangerous than he seems on the surface. The ringmaster’s frequent violent outbursts against his animals leave them bloodied and beaten between shows. And August’s wife, the beautiful Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), makes like a scared mouse any time the boss’ temper flares up, leaving Jacob to wonder if she too might not be abused. But things look like they might finally be turning around when August unveils his new star attraction: an Asian elephant named Rosie. And with Jacob’s help—the vet has a special bond with the gentle giant, made special-er with the realization that Rosie only takes commands in his native Polish tongue—August, Marlena and the rest of the Benzini Brothers crew might actually have a successful show again. Only, as Jacob bonds with the elephant, he also begins to fall for the pretty blonde who performs beside her—Marlena. And that causes problems for all. Including me. Honestly, I didn’t buy Jacob and Marlena’s love story. Not necessarily because of the way it’s written (at least I don’t think), but because Pattinson and Witherspoon have near-zero chemistry. I haven’t read the novel so I don’t know if Jacob declares his love for Marlena as quickly as he does in the film—it’s the sort of nonsensical “I’ve Loved you since before I even really saw you” (and yes that’s Love, with a capital “L”) stuff that only happens in works of fiction—but I imagine the suddenness is mostly a side-effect of LaGravenese condensing a drawn out, chapter spanning, plot line into the formula of a two-hour feature (if not, well…). And in light of Jacob’s almost instantaneous puppy love, which you can easily shrug off as idiotic lust, I initially forgave the coldness that Witherspoon’s Marlena blasts in the general direction of the boyish blockhead. In a way, the lack of chemistry sort of enhances the earlier parts of the love story, because it’s so obviously one sided and really just about a want for sex—exactly as it probably would be in real life. The problem is, eventually, the film and filmmakers wants us to believe Marlena feels the same “true love” for Jacob that he feels for her… and, sorry to say, I don’t believe that happens. The characters don’t click the way they should, and the way the writer and director want us to believe they have, because the actors don’t have any connection whatsoever. It’s a shame really, because the film is otherwise quite good. The direction is slick, and masterfully mated with gorgeous cinematography (as is almost always the case with Lawrence’s films and TV shows, I find. He manages to make even his lesser projects look good. Which really is no surprise; he was a music video and commercial director before fully transitioning to feature films). The production design by Jack Fisk is handsome and authentically realized too, bringing the period to life with class, style and a little lived-in grit. With one exception—the animal breakout in the climax, which looks so astonishingly fake one wonders if the production ran out of money or time, or both, to do it properly—the film makes magnificent use of its visual effects department, seamlessly blending practical and CG to the point where it becomes difficult to discern between the two modes (something made even clearer when one watches the VFX-centric special feature on this disc). And the performances are excellent outside of the non-chemistry that Pattinson and Witherspoon have in their scenes together. Waltz adeptly embodies the role of the maniacal villain with his usually menacing flair, and is, as always, a joy to watch. Weirdly, Witherspoon isn’t bad in scenes with only Waltz. Likewise, Pattinson easily gives his “best” performance in years when teamed up with anyone other than his female co-star. Although not Oscar-level stuff, Pattinson’s actually a little lively, and sort of believable, as a “lost” twenty-something. Certainly, part of the reason the actor is decent here—and make no mistake, I simply mean to say he’s uncharacteristically not dreadful, which is quite unusual for him—is he’s not playing a dead-eyed object of Mormonistic masturbatory fantasy, and instead an actual character with, like, feelings and, maybe, a soul. (And most importantly of all: he doesn’t sparkle). Chemistry faults and all, “Water For Elephants” largely works as a film. It’s solidly constructed and more than competently shot, the story is reasonably entertaining and the script twists a tale well-told, with a nice balance between drama and humor, and, heck, even a little light action (there’s a bit where the police bust up a speakeasy). The main plot of the young Jacob is bookended by two scenes, set in modern day, of an older Jacob, played by the wonderful Hal Holbrook, telling us his story. The old man, obviously worn with age but having considerable wisdom for his weathering, promises a grand tale of spectacle. And, if nothing else, “Elephants” is worth seeing as a sumptuously produced period piece of spectacular wonder. The film has a real sense of the era and atmosphere of the Depression and the commotion of the classic circus. Oh, and did I mention that it looks and sounds great on Blu-ray? No? Well…
Video
In a word, stunning. “Water For Elephants” was shot by versatile academy award nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, who’s lensed everything from crazy colorful creations like Julie Taymor’s “Frida” (2002) and Pedro Almodóvar’s “Broken Embraces” (2009) to gritty docu-style verité for Alejandro González Iñárritu with “21 Grams” (2003) and “Babel” (2006), and, lately, even stepped behind the cameras of slick slices of modern Hollywood like Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” (2010), or, more to the point, Francis Lawrence’s “Elephants”. Prieto and Lawrence have delivered a beautiful looking film, and it transfers terrifically to Blu-ray. What faults the film may have on a conceptual or casting level, aren’t apparent in the pretty-close-to-perfect 2.40:1 widescreen 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 encoded high definition presentation. Colors verge on warm over-saturation but are often bold and brilliant, and skin tones remain natural throughout. Contrast is excellent too, with inky but not impenetrable blacks and a reasonably level of depth. (Shadow detail is just right, in most scenes with no objectionable crush). Clarity is quite impressive in both the intricacies of fine fabrics of Marlena’s costumes, August’s suits and even the circus tent, and the details of most faces—especially Pattinson’s, whose stubbled mug fills the frame of many a screen-filling tight shot. I detected a hint of noise reduction in Witherspoon’s scenes—softening up her textures—but it’s clearly a stylistic choice, to give her character a sense of silken, almost angelic, beauty (and, perhaps more importantly, to appease the actress’ sense of vanity), and not technically a flaw of the transfer. The encode is superb; no issues with banding or artifacts, no obvious signs of over overzealous edge enhancement and, outside of the select digital “airbrushing” in Witherspoon’s close-ups, no evidence of DNR. Shot on 35mm film, a light peppering of grain remains intact, but isn’t intrusive, and is a welcomed sight in this increasingly digitized world. The softness of Witherspoon’s face can be a bit distracting, especially when she shares the screen with either Waltz or her leading man, both untouched and presented grit and all, but in nearly every other respect, “Water For Elephants” is gorgeous, and makes for a very rewarding HD viewing experience.
Audio
Unbelievably, “Elephants” sounds just as good as—if not slightly better than—it looks. The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack (48kHz/24-bit) delivers a rich, dynamic, well-balanced mix of clear, undistorted dialogue, warm and inviting musical underscore, rousing action (yes, this sweeping romance has a few moments of genuine action) and, most impressively, realistic atmosphere. The chatter and cheer of the circus crowds routinely fill the soundstage from the rears, with the trumpeting of Rosie the Elephant and the stomping of her hooves provide an example of the clean highs and the impacting lows of the track. LFE has noticeable weight. Chaotic moments—the big climax, full of both stampeding animals and attendees—bring the mix to a more aggressive state, but even the quite moments aboard the train have subtle effects (the creaks and groans of a train car, the scrape of the steel wheels on rail, and the puffing of the steam billowing from the engine’s smokestack). James Newton Howard’s wondrous score is a highlight, and Lawrence gives the maestro’s melodies plenty of opportunity to overwhelm the rest of the track, staging a few impressively wordless montages that seem to dance, ebb and flow, to the music. The disc also includes Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 and French Dolby Digital 5.1 dubs, and optional English and Spanish subtitles.
Extras
Fox’s 2-disc release of “Water for Elephants” doesn’t disappoint in the supplements department. The dual disc set includes an audio commentary with the director and writer, seven featurettes—essentially a multi-part documentary, clocking in at more than an hours worth of material all told—plus the film’s original theatrical trailer, a small handful of bonus trailers, BD-LIVE and a digital copy housed on a second disc. Better still, almost all of the content is presented in 1080p high definition and most of the extras are pretty interesting too. For the record, Fox has authored the disc with bookmarks, the resume playback function and D-Box Motion Code. The BD-LIVE features require a Profile 2.0-enabled player and an Internet connection for access. DISC ONE: BLU-RAY (Film & Special Features) First up is the audio commentary with director Francis Lawrence and writer Richard LaGravenese. This is a solid—if unexceptional—outing from the duo, who spend their time discussing the visual effects, the screenplay and adaptation, the casting, the cinematography, etc. All of the particular topics fans will want to learn about are covered here, in a fairly dry and matter of fact fashion. There’s also some silence, a few words of annoying self-congratulatory praise and a couple of meaningless musings about favorite sequences, but overall it’s a very decent commentary. The seven featurettes—annoyingly chopped up from what I assume was a larger production documentary, and, even more aggravating, not viewable in one chunk via a “play all”—offer an in-depth look at the making-of the film, dissecting the production of “Water For Elephants” with over 70 minutes of behind-the-scenes material. The first featurette, titled “Raising the Tent” (1080p, 15 minutes 42 seconds) is quite extensive and has director Francis Lawrence, production designer Jack Fisk, costume designer Jacqueline West, cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto and others discussing the painstaking process of recreating the 1930's “dustbowl” aesthetic. Discussion of the films gorgeous production design, intricate costumes, elaborate circus sets and stunning photography makes it clear that the crew spent a lot of time and money bringing the period to life as authentically as possible. “Secrets of the Big Top” (1080p, 12 minutes 13 seconds) has an even broader focus. The featurette provides a candid look at the history of the circus culture in America, from the late 1800's into the 1930's, when the town-hopping spectacles where at their height of popularity because they provided cheap escapist entertainment for the disillusioned, poor populace of the Depression era. Appropriately titled, “The Star Attraction” (1080p, 9 minutes 12 seconds) is a featurette that offers a look at Tai, the 42-year old Asian elephant who portrays Rosie in the film. Reese Witherspoon, among others, talks about working with the animal and the stunts the duo perform on screen. Another featurette titled “The Traveling Show: From Page to Screen” (1080p, 9 minutes 14 seconds) allows Lawrence and LaGravenese, author Sara Gruen, producer Andrew Tennenbaum, and other members of the cast and crew to talk about the process of bringing the best-selling novel to the big screen. “Robert Pattinson Spotlight” (1080p, 3 minutes 58 seconds) is a featurette all about the male lead. The cast and crew heap praise upon him in a thankfully brief profile. Twi-tards will delight. All others look elsewhere. In an unusual, but admittedly very cool, featurette titled “Working Without a Net: The Visual Effects of Water for Elephants” (1080p, 22 minutes 37 seconds) viewers won’t find any talking head interviews from the effects team about the CGI. Instead this lengthy piece is a progression reel of the various steps—layers, composites, etc.—in the VFX cycle for several key, CGI-heavy, sequences in the film, all set to James Newton Howard’s beautiful score. It’s really quite interesting, actually. You’d be surprised what’s CG and what’s not. The last featurette, called “Feature Performer Reese Witherspoon” (1080p, 2 minutes 35 seconds), is a short look at Witherspoon’s transformation into a circus performer. It’s overly fluffy and—along with the Pattinson piece—by far my least favorite (and the least interesting) featurette to be found on the disc. Fox has also included the original theatrical trailer (2.40:1 widescreen 1080p, 1 minute 55 seconds) for “Water for Elephants”, encoded in high definition. “Water For Elephants” also includes BD-LIVE features. Under a menu titled “Live Extras” viewers with an internet-connected Profile 2.0 player will find Fox’s BD-Live portal, IMDB-powered Live Lookup function and an exclusive featurette titled “Stars of the Circus” (720p, 3 minute 43 seconds) with the film’s animal wrangler Paul "Sled" Reynolds. The featurette is available in both downloadable and streaming formats. The disc also includes the following pre-menu bonus trailers: - "Fox Digital Copy" promo (1080p, 49 seconds). - “The Descendants” coming soon to blu-ray and DVD (2.40:1 widescreen 1080p, 2 minutes 12 seconds). - “Snowflower and the Secret Fan” on Blu-ray and DVD (2.40:1 widescreen, 1 minute 57 seconds). DISC TWO: DVD (Digital Copy) The set’s second disc—a DVD-5—includes a digital copy of “Water For Elephants” for playback on Apple iPod, iPad or iTunes products and WMV-compatible Windows machines. Why they actually had to waste a disc on this, I have no idea. A download from The Cloud™ makes much more sense these days, mostly because it doesn’t clutter up your collection with a DVD that is useless once its contents are redeemed. The insert notes that the “Water For Elephants” digital copy is PocketBlu enabled—a first for a Fox title, I believe.
Packaging
“Water For Elephants” arrives on Blu-ray from Fox Home Entertainment in a 2-disc “BD + Digital Copy” package. The set is packaged in a Viva Elite eco-case and includes a foil-effected cardboard slip-cover in the first pressing. The dual layer BD-50 is locked to Region A; the second disc—a DVD-5—contains a digital copy of the film compatible with most mobile devices. Brick-and-mortal retailer Target has an exclusive 3-disc package containing a Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy with slightly different cover art.
Overall
“Water For Elephants” just misses the mark. It’s a great show, with sumptuous production design, perfect period costumes, stunning cinematography and sturdy direction. The story, despite the sweeping, hopelessly romantic, underpinnings, is well told and ends up entertaining for most of the brisk two-hour runtime. But the film fails in one area and that’s difficult to digest: Pattinson and Witherspoon, playing two supposedly star-crossed lovers, really have no chemistry at all. Which is odd, because outside of their love story, both give surprisingly solid performances—especially when separately teamed with the masterfully menacing Christoph Waltz. There’s much less fault to find in Fox’s Blu-ray, which presents the film with a close-to-perfect video transfer, near-reference audio and an unusually extensive selection of informative extras. Recommended.
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