Ode to Elephants

Life is the most spectacular show on earth

I had the wonderful privilege of seeing Water for Elephants last night with two of my favorite DCers, boy do I want my own elephant now.  I thought the movie was amazing, the costumes were exquisite, the backdrop and circus were so old timey, and all of the exotic animals were SO cool (especially Rosie the elephant!).   I read the book a year or two ago and although there were scenes that were added or deleted, the feel and look of the movie was what I had imagined in the book (I try not to judge movies too harshly in contrast to a book, I treat them as different entities and try not to judge one off the other).  I love the actors in this movie as well, Reese Witherspoon is just a favorite of mine and does a phenomenal job as Marlena, wife of evil circus owner August (he is does a great job being evil...you really hate him by the end of the movie!).  And then there's Robert Pattinson who plays the main character Jacob, he is ever so handsome in this movie and also does a superb job portraying this innocent veterinarian boy who suddenly finds himself on a circus train (not to give too much away).

Tai with her trainer!

Anyway, I did a little research on the animal side of this as I was interested on how they had all of those animals on set - I mean there were just tons - lions, zebras, horses, camels, dogs, giraffes, and of course Rosie the elephant.  I thought they may all be digitalized but it turns out they weren't (or they're just not sharing that on webpages)!  Rosie the elephant was played mainly by a 40 year old elephant named Tai (her favorite treat is marshmallows!)! The cast fell in love with Tai, they said she was the gentlest creature and Reese Witherspoon cried when the set was wrapped because she didn't want to say goodbye to Tai.  Below is a video on the treatment of the animals on the set (there are some gruesome scenes in the movie that portray cruelty to animals), none were harmed in any way in the making of this movie!

If you'd like to watch the trailer I've posted it below as well...I HIGHLY suggest seeing the movie, especially if you're an animal fan (although be aware, there are some rough scenes).  I'm sure after watching you'll understand my current elephant obsession :)