This is going to sound like an attack on Reese Witherspoon, but it’s not. Hear me out. While Hollywood often tries to cast her as the romantic lead in whatever generic, meet cute they’re cooking up, Reese Witherspoon will never belong in those films. It’s her look. It just isn’t Hollywood. She’s pretty, but not in the way most actresses are pretty. She’s pretty in the way the hottest girl in the Ozarks might be pretty. Her look isn’t glamour or glitz, maybe that’s why she’s done her best work playing the plainest of the plain, like Walk the Line’s June Carter Cash. What I’m getting at is that Reese Witherspoon belongs in a circus.

In Water for Elephants she’ll play the hottest girl in a traveling circus sideshow, and in this new trailer for the film, I buy it. I wouldn’t buy it if this part were played by Rachel McAdams, or Scarlett Johansson, or just about anyone else except Salma Hayek who can do wonders while wearing facial hair. I buy it when it’s Reese Witherspoon.

I also buy Christoph Waltz as the man behind the circus tent. He’s playing another villain, clearly he’s typecast, but at least he’s really good at playing villains. Did you see Green Hornet? Waltz was better than average there.

Check out the new Water for Elephants trailer embedded below or see it in HD on Amazon.com.

For more on Water for Elephants, or just to get a look at the film’s previous trailer, visit the Blend Film Database.