‘Elephants’ in the Room

Acclaimed Canadian author Sara Gruen’s best-selling novel Water for Elephants got an evocative, Depression-era adaptation last spring in the hands of The Fisher King screenwriter Richard LaGravenese and I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence. New this week on DVD, Twilight star Robert Pattinson portrays the book’s young protagonist, a veterinary student who leaves school after his parents’ unexpected deaths and joins a traveling circus to care for the animals. Pattinson’s young vet clashes with a ruthless ringmaster who abuses the animals, played by Inglourious Basterd’s Oscar-winning villain Christoph Waltz, while also falling in love with the ringmaster’s beautify young wife, played by Academy Award Winner Reese Witherspoon. Together Pattinson and Witherspoon must confront the repercussions of their feelings for each other and decide how best to save as many animals from abuse as they can. Hal Holbrook and Paul Schneider co-star. Rated PG-13.