“Water for Elephants,” is the newly released Blockbuster smash hit based on the New York Times bestselling novel written by Sara Gruen.

In a brief synopsis, Jacob Jankowski (Robert Pattinson), the main character, is a Cornell student studying veterinary medicine when his family is suddenly killed in a tragic car accident. Jacob realizes his father’s business was making no money, and he took out loans against their house to pay for Jacob’s Ivy League education.

Left with nothing, and no one to turn to, Jacob catches a circus train and lands himself a job cleaning the animal stalls. He meets the ringmaster’s (Christoph Waltz) beautiful wife, Marlena (Reese Witherspoon) and falls hopelessly in love with her.Jacob Jankowski manages to climb the social hierarchy of the circus, while narrowly escaping all of the pitfalls that come with that accomplishment.

Many argue that ‘the book is always better than the movie.’ Usually, I would agree with this statement. Books allow the reader freedom to customize the story to their liking, create characters, sets, and personalities as they wish.

Yet, for me, “Water for Elephants” proved this theory wrong. The artful costuming, beautiful cinematography, and impressive animal spread are breathtaking and perfectly flamboyant and befitting of the spirit of the original novel. One of the most defining features of the novel is its rich language and vocabulary. The language thickly describes characters and their surroundings, painting pictures of the grit of the Great Depression, the luster and radiance of the beautiful Marlena, and the coarse hay that lies at the bot- tom of Rosie, the elephant’s stall. My only complaint, if any, is that in an effort to shorten the film, several poignant scenes from the book were omitted in the movie.

Instead of choosing to ignore this beautiful dialect, the director of “Water for Elephants,” Francis Lawrence, took many lines directly from the text and designed the sets according to the deep description in the novel.

This close attention to detail made the transition from book to movie nearly seamless, leaving the audience crying for more.

“Water For Elephants,” held its own up against other major league mov-ies released at the same time such as “Hop,” “African Cats,” and “Fast Five,” and far exceeded all of my expectations.