Marilyn's Musings

Since I wrote my review about the movie Water for Elephants, I've read the strangest comments about the movie. One was that it was a direct rip-off of The Titanic. That one I can not figure out. The person said the circus was a substitute for the Titanic, and the main characters, replicas. Of course there were some minor similarities, after all they say there are only 30 plots and they are reworked all the time. Certainly the same themes constantly appear in books and movies--but I felt this was certainly a refreshing movie, definitely displayed the time period, and what it was like to be in a minor circus at that time. Of course there is the inevitable romance--but even that was different. In the book, of course it was more layered, but well-done even in the shorter movie version. The characterizations were criticized in another review--but in my opinion they definitely followed the book. The many faceted villain, the mistreated heroine, the young hero whose life plan was sh...

I read the book Water for Elephants twice. I didn't intend to read it twice. I'd read it when it first came out in paper, then while looking for something to put on my Kindle, I saw Water for Elephants and not remembering it, I downloaded it. Once I started reading I knew I'd read it before but didn't remember all the details. I knew I wanted to see the movie because I liked the book, thought they'd picked a good cast, and they made a lot of the movie in Fillmore CA where they keep many old trains and the downtown is much like it was in the olden days. Of course watching a movie after reading a book can be disappointing, but I can assure you that's not the case here. Yes, there are some slight differences but none that take away any of the essence of the story. It's a love story with so many facets. Set during the Great Depression, 1930s, when people didn't have money, some no jobs or homes, the only excitement coming from when the circus came to t...