‘Water for Elephants’: Oscar runs off to join the circus?

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‘Water for Elephants’ sends conflicting Oscar signals. On one hand, it seems like, well, maybe it’s derby fare considering it stars past Academy Award champs Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz and is based upon a beloved book.

But then you consider its popcorn costar (Robert Pattinson), the director (music video virtuoso Francis Lawrence, who helmed ‘Constantine’ and ‘I Am Legend’) and the book’s pulp fiction plot: Downtrodden boy (Pattinson) joins the circus and falls in forbidden love with the wife (Witherspoon) of evil boss (Waltz). ‘Water for Elephants’ might be peanuts for the masses and that’s all. It certainly doesn’t have an Oscar-friendly release date: April 22.

-- Tom O’Neil