Water for Elephants Movie Reviews

Taken from Google Images

Okay, crew!  The time has come to watch Water for Elephants!  To conclude this unit, your writing assignment will be to write a movie review for the film after we watch it, but you will not hand in a hard copy.  Instead, you will post your movie review to your blog by Friday at 4 pm. 

Instead of this post being worth 50 points, this one will be worth 100 points.  I advise that you take this assignment seriously and do not put off writing it until the last minute.  As always, I am expecting a lot out of your post this week, so please "wow" me!


Your movie review for Water for Elephants should include the following:

1. A Title ("Water for Elephants: Drying up Fans' Expectations")
2. Your Name (you are the author - make yourself known and give yourself some credit; and if you want to give yourself a glitzy movie reviewer name, knock yourself out!)
3. Photo(s) from the film including a caption (make sure you give credit as to where you found the photos)
4. A brief summary of the film, giving your readers background information (write this review as if your audience knows little to nothing about the book or the film)
5. An in-depth analysis of your viewing of the film.  This can include any and all of the following:
a. The characters - were they true to the book?  Did the actors portray the characters well?  How was the on-screen chemistry? (Use the actors' names - they have them!)
b. The setting - did director Francis Lawrence capture the gritty nature of the circus industry of the 1930's?  How did his portrayal of this corrupt industry compare to the book?
c. The plot - did the film stay true to the novel or did it stray from Gruen's plot?  Were the changes better or worse?  Why?

6. In addition to being graded on content and organization of your thought, you will also be graded on your mechanics (spelling, punctuation, and grammar).  Use spell-check and read through your review before you post it!

Below are some published movie reviews of the film.  I advise you to read through them to get a sense of what an actual movie review looks and "feels" like.  If you are struggling, reading these will help you get started.  Happy writing!

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/water-elephants-movie-review-180802

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/water_for_elephants/
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/22/entertainment/la-et-water-for-elephants-20110422

http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/04/22/movies/reese-witherspoon-in-water-for-elephants-review.html

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/21/movie-review-water-for-elephants/