First, a little backstory. I really must be sometype of masochist, one who enjoys heartfail rather than physical pain, however. For some reason, I decided to check out what the "official" critical reviews have been for WfE. To be sure, there have been some raving about the film. Variety, Roger Ebert, LA Times, EW, all gave the film fairly stellar reviews. But, there were some that threatened to kill my RobKowski buzz for sure. I honestly have no idea how it is that I can read two reviews of the same movie and have them say such polarically different things. So many critics lauded Rob's performance, stating at the least that his role as Jacob would finally cement his talent as an actor outside of the "teen heartthrob" label and in many cases, praising his ability to go toe-to-toe with two Oscar-winners and detailing his ability to bring a very complex Jacob to the screen. And then there were the ones whose names currently top my list of "celebrity" plane-crash first class. One critic even went so far as to say that Rob was even difficult to see on the screen because he is so odd-looking!! I have to write those reviews off as sour grapes and stereotyping. I cannot believe that they even watched the same movie I did! But, I digress. A very good friend of mine writes a local movie blog called The Independent Critic. Now, I adore this guy. He's fabulous. But, he and I have gone round and round about The Saga and particularly about Rob. He completely panned both Twilight and New Moon and was so caught up by the end of Remember Me that he could not bring himself to be complimentary. It was not until I convinced him to watch The Bad Mother's Handbook that he admitted that, maybe there was more there than meets the eye. So, in my bout of self-torture, I saved his review for last, knowing that I would have to actually take him to task if he said anything negative. So... well, just let me share a bit of his review...
TheIndependentCritic.com wrote:However, with his appearance in Water for Elephants, Pattinson is proving once and for all that he is a true actor ... admittedly, an uncommonly handsome one, but still an actor... the film is a sign of growth for the young actor who has said without hesitation that he aspires to being taken seriously as an actor....Water for Elephants may very well become the film that convinces Hollywood to take this young actor seriously.
Well, let's just say that that reinvigorated my high for sure. Tomorrow, Hubs, monkeys and I will spend the day with Easter runnings around and soccer. But, I have every intention of returning to the theater on Sunday for what I am sure will be the second of several more viewings of this film.
Susie~ I'm fairly inclined to agree. I'm willing to bet that the only thing garnering the PG13 rating was the love scene between Jacob & Marlena... well, that and the brief glimpse of Kinko's 8-pager. I did notice the decided lack of vulgarity and did find it refreshing. Granted, there wasn't much in the book and what little was there were a few slips in Jacob's internal monologue, which I'm betting he was to much of a gentleman in 1931 to say out loud, particularly in front of a lady, or used by the roustabouts in scenes that were not included in the film. I, personally, found the love scene to be beautiful, focusing entirely on the connection between Jacob & Marlena, rather than the actual physical act itself.