Water for Elephants (film)

Filming

On a budget of $38 million,^[5] filming began on May 20, 2010, in Los Angeles, Piru, Fillmore in California, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Kensington and Chickamauga in Georgia^{[citation needed]}. The filming wrapped up on August 4, 2010. This is the second time Witherspoon and Pattinson have costarred together as they had filmed a deleted scene from 2004's Vanity Fair in which he was her estranged son. Reshoots for the film were scheduled for mid-January 2011.^[6]

The stampede scenes were digitally composed.^[7]

Several transportation scenes were filmed at the Fillmore and Western Railway.^[8] The locomotive used for the circus train scenes in the film was McCloud Railway 18, which now operates excursion trains on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad.^[9][8]

Alleged animal abuse

In the film, the elephant Rosie is severely abused. A spokesperson from the AHA stated that all scenes of abuse in the film were the work of special effects and CGI and that the moaning and crying sounds that Rosie makes in film were audio tracks, and were not actually made by Tai.^[10]

Controversy erupted, however, regarding concerns Tai was mistreated prior to filming. A video released by the Animal Defenders International (ADI) in 2011 shows footage from 2005 of Tai allegedly being shocked with handheld stun guns and beaten around the body and legs with bullhooks, while in the care of Have Trunk Will Travel.^[11][12] The ADI contacted AHA, urging them to re-evaluate how they assess the use of animals in films and the statements being made which effectively endorse the use of performing animals.^[11]

Have Trunk Will Travel responded to the video stating, "The video shows heavily edited and very short snippets, obviously taken surreptitiously six years ago, purporting mistreatment of our elephants. If there was truly any abuse going on why wait six minutes, much less six years?" and added, "None of the footage being shown was taken during Tai's training for Water for Elephants."^[12][13]

Critical response

On review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 60% based on 199 reviews, with an average rating of 6.10/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "It's a tale tastefully told and beautifully filmed, but Water for Elephants suffers from a pronounced lack of chemistry between its leads."^[14] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating to reviews, the film has a score of 52 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[15] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.^[16]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, stating: "This is good sound family entertainment, a safe PG-13 but not a dumb one, and it's a refreshing interlude before we hurtle into the summer blockbuster season."^[17] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review. He stated: "The Reese Witherspoon-Robert Pattinson film will please fans of Sara Gruen's best-seller, but it lacks the vital spark that would have made the drama truly compelling on the screen."^[18]

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review, stating that "despite the stars' lack of romantic chemistry, there's much to enjoy in this cinematic retelling of Sara Gruen's big top bestseller, starting with the spectacular circus setting."^[19] James Berardinelli, film critic for ReelViews, wrote: "There's an old-fashioned vibe to Water for Elephants; it's the kind of movie Hollywood once turned out with regularity but rarely does anymore."^[20]

Richard Corliss of Time stated: "The proceedings get so slow and saccharine that viewers will relish the film's moments of redeeming idiocy. In one of them, Marlena whispers to Jacob, 'Bring Rosie to my tent and don't tell anyone' — as if the roustabouts wouldn't notice a 12-ft.-tall, 10,000-lb. creature striding down the midway. Granted, they'd also take a look at his handler, the divoon Robert Pattinson; but Rosie has a pretty strong odor too, and that's what will stick to you after seeing Water for Elephants."^[21]

Some critics, however, praised the film's cast. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle stated that Pattinson succeeded at holding his own at the center of a major feature and that Witherspoon, while an odd fit for the role, was "actress enough to make it work." He continued: "The affectionate but turbulent dynamic among [Christoph] Waltz, Pattinson, and Witherspoon is endlessly watchable."^[22] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone also wrote that Pattinson and Witherspoon "smoldered" under the "golden gaze of Rodrigo Prieto's camera."^[23]

Box office

Water for Elephants was released in theaters on April 22, 2011. In the United States and Canada, the film was released theatrically in 2,817 conventional theaters. The film grossed $6,924,487 during its opening day on April 22, 2011, with midnight screenings in 2,817 locations.^[3] Overall the film made $16,842,353 and debuted at No. 3 on its opening weekend.^[24] On its second weekend, it dropped to No. 4 and grossed $9,342,413 - $3,313 per theater.^[25] By its third weekend it dropped down to No. 6 and made $6,069,603 - $2,322 per theater.^[26] As of September 27, 2011, its final gross is $58,709,717 in the United States and $58,385,185 overseas, for a total of $117,094,902.^[3]

Accolades

Home media

The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on November 1, 2011, in two physical packages: a 1-disc DVD and a 2-disc Blu-ray/Digital Copy combo pack.^[31][32]