Water for Elephants

Clearly I've had more time for movies this summer than I have had for books. It makes me sad to think about, but at least I have been lucky enough to come across some pretty good ones. The storyline is simple, but powerful. Jacob, ex-veterinary student, joins the circus and ends up becoming a favourite. He is specially tasked with caring for the circus's new elephant, Rosie. Jacob falls for Marlena, the horse-back acrobat who is working out a new act with Rosie. However, Marlena is married to the ring master/circus owner, August, who turns out to be rather abusive, both to his people and his animals. Everyone is property to him, but they are also liabilities, so when he can't afford to keep his entertainers and staff around, he dumps them off the train in the middle of the night. In the end, Jacob helps Marlena to realize how scary her situation is and the two escape together. Without revealing too much, I will let you know that this film ends as most romances do, with the couple living happily together with their children and their elephant, Rosie.
While I think that this movie (and the book it was based on) is made to emphasize the problems of physical abuse on animals and people, it definitely appears that poking the elephant has been used in place of the "kick the dog" trope. For those who don't know, the "kick the dog" trope is used to highlight the evil nature of the antagonist, since only truly terrible people would hurt an innocent animal. This trope is often paired with or replaced by the "kick the woman" trope, which serves the same purpose. These tropes are used in parallel in this movie to prove to the viewer exactly what kind of man August really is. I think that it also highlights a connection between Rosie and Marlena. The two have both become sideshow attractions, whose only real interaction with others comes from time spent with Jacob and/or August.
Jacob is the complete opposite of August. He is interested in Marlena for who she is. He loves that she is a strong, confident woman. August, on the other hand, preys on her weaknesses. It bothered me quite a bit that she seemed so constantly torn between the two, but clearly her fears were getting the better of her. Jacob also treats Rosie with patience and gentleness, while August insists that the animal will only respond to force and anger. Interestingly, August seems to turn around on that point once Jacob realizes that the elephant has already been trained to do trick using German commands. And despite that August remains ever irate with his people, especially Jacob.
The acting in this was good, but I think that the timing in which I watched this movie was a bit unfortunate since I had only recently seen Legally Blonde. I have never seen Reese Witherspoon in any super serious roles, and I struggled sometimes to see her fitting into the character of Marlena. Nonetheless, the storyline was good enough that I could feel the romance even when I couldn't understand her.

P.S. If you are interested in the use of the "kick the dog" trope, Anita Sarkeesian has a really great vlog talking about the sexuality and objectivity of female background characters in video games. Link here. (I know it's not totally related, but my discussion about August brought this to mind).