WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (Rated PG-13)

The artwork on the film’s poster gives away the dramatic love story of “Water for Elephants,” seeing how it pictures Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon dancing as if they were a truly romantic couple.

Of course, you don’t really need this hint from the advertising to figure out where this story is going, one that starts in the modern day and works its way back to the era of the Great Depression.

Hal Holbrook, having escaped from a nursing home, seeks refuge at a traveling circus, which affords him the opportunity to reminisce about his career path from the time he had to unexpectedly withdraw from Cornell University before completing his graduating final exams.

Flash back to 1931, and college student Jake Jankowski (Robert Pattinson) finds his life falling apart as the result of a family tragedy. Unfortunately, he is forced to cut short his studies in veterinary medicine.

With only the clothes on his back, Jake unknowingly hops a circus train heading to the big city.

At first, he’s not openly welcomed by the roustabouts camping in a boxcar. Most of them are belligerent or drunk, but the grizzled veteran Camel (Jim Norton) takes Jake under his wing.

The traveling circus is a second-rate operation known as the Benzini Brothers, the ringleader of which is the mercurial August (Christoph Waltz), who is both oddly charismatic and sadistically cruel.

August thinks about tossing Jake from the train until he realizes that his veterinary skills may come in handy with the circus animals.

What gets Jake’s attention more than the menagerie of wild animals is the incandescent star performer Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), a porcelain-skinned platinum blonde whose beauty is dazzling to behold as she rides a white show horse. Jake is smitten immediately, ignoring the dangers that lurk in even the hint of a potential liaison.

While Marlena’s the prime attraction of the circus, she’s also married to August, who is deeply possessive. But through a shared love for the animals, a close bond soon develops between Marlena and Jake that stirs paranoia and resentment for the circus owner.

As the film’s setting is the Great Depression, there’s plenty of angst and bitterness in the ranks of the circus workers, most of them afraid of August’s frequent bouts of rage and hostility. Many look upon Jake as an interloper and unwanted outsider.

While the circus constantly struggles with finances, things finally start to look up when August acquires a stubborn but regal old elephant named Rosie. The pachyderm’s disobedience and reluctance to perform causes August to inflict cruel treatment with the vicious use of a bull hook.

Fortunately, Jake manages to figure out what motivates the elephant to perform elegantly, allowing Marlena to triumphantly ride Rosie in an astounding circus act that starts to draw curious audiences.

“Water for Elephants” is more than a dramatic love story, one fraught with danger, deception and intrigue. It’s also a beautifully realized recreation of the old-fashioned circus that would pitch its big top virtually anywhere on its traveling road show.

Details and images of the early 1930s are delivered in an authentic manner by director Francis Lawrence and his production team. The look of “Water for Elephants” is an entirely plausible one-ring traveling circus that nicely captures the traditions of a by-gone era.

Even more impressive for this film is that it is a rare entertainment for grown-ups. Though everyone is quite good in their roles, the really serious acting comes from Christoph Waltz, who plays a complicated, edgy and unpredictable character well worth watching.

TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL

The second annual TCM Classic Film Festival is this weekend, so I will take one more stab at promoting its virtues to cinema lovers.

The four-day affair, which began Thursday, April 28, takes place in the heart of Hollywood, and is chock full of classic films introduced by noted celebrities.

The highlight will be Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas chatting on stage with TCM host Robert Osbourne about his career, leading into a screening of Stanley Kubrick’s epic film “Spartacus.”

Mickey Rooney will make a rare public appearance for a presentation of the Gershwin musical “Girl Crazy,” in which he starred with Judy Garland in 1943.

Another Gershwin musical is represented in the opening gala presentation of the 60th anniversary world premiere restoration of “An American in Paris,” with star Leslie Caron helping introduce the film. Roger Corman will introduce his low-budget classic “The Little Shop of Horrors,” which was reportedly made in only two days.

Debbie Reynolds will introduce “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” which was based on a Broadway musical.

The screening of “The Man with the Golden Arm,” a film that earned Frank Sinatra a Best Actor Oscar nomination, is a family affair in that the film will be introduced by Sinatra’s daughters as well by the daughter of famed director Otto Preminger.

For an evening of levity, the hilarious Marx Brothers romp, “A Night at the Opera,” will be introduced by Groucho’s grandson, Andy Marx.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.