While the Water For Elephants trailer certainly doesn't skimp on the elephants, it's oddly lacking in clowns, lion tamers and all of the other outcasts and oddities that make the circus so fascinating. I suppose that seeing Robert Patinson and Reese Witherspoon hang out with an elephant is almost as interesting, but still, if Hollywood is going to go to the circus, it'd be nice if they went all the way.
But yes, its insuppressible romance under the big top between Witherspoon and Pattinson, with the jealous Christoph Waltz doing his damndest to suppress it. An elephant hangs out in the background for most of the movie and sometimes the two leads rest their head on it or pet it. I'm betting they also bring it water, unless that's a metaphor.
It really is a likable trailer: The production design and cinematography look great, the actors look great; hell, even that elephant looks pretty sharp. And with Sara Gruen's much-loved best seller as the source material, it initially seems like an an unstoppable package. But, part of the romance of the circus is the dirt and the jagged edges, neither of which are present in this glossed-over trailer. The book supposedly features supporting characters like a dwarf named Kinko and an old man named Camel who can't move his arms, but I didn't see them in the trailer. Here's hoping that they're in the film because everyone here looks like they could just as easily be in The Great Gastby.
Verdict: Still holding out for the U.S. release of The Last Circus.