The story opens with Hal Holbrook standing outside a modern-day circus, confused. When some of the folks who run the circus try to help him, he ends up telling the story of his time in one of the greatest circus disasters of all time.

This is a great beginning and Holbrook is one of the more sympathetic actors in the game. He is able to convey emotion with just the slightest movements and expressions. But that is what leads to the film’s first problem.

As it progresses from Holbrook as Older Jacob to Robert Pattinson as Young Jacob, so does the voice over. Why the younger version of this character begins telling the story is completely unknown.

This annoyance leads to a bigger problem for the film: Pattinson just doesn’t have emotions. It is easy to understand why he’s popular in the “Twilight” films, but it is hard to get behind him in more complex roles.

He has mastered showing confusion and longing but all other emotions seem beyond his grasp. This problem is all the more glaring when such an accomplished veteran plays the older version of the character.

For the most part, everything else about the film is done rather well. Both Christoph Waltz (August) and Reese Witherspoon (Marlena) are a delight as the very complex couple who run and perform in the show respectively.

All the characters are a little one-sided, but that should be expected from the nature of telling a story from one man’s point of view. Witherspoon does a very solid job of showing why Marlena would stay with a man as power hungry and sadistic as August can be.

Waltz shines as a man driven by the need to be the best, yet not capable or worthy of such a distinction.

The cinematography and design of this film are beautiful. It’s refreshing to see a film that holds authenticity in such high regard right before we hit the summer blockbuster season. The real animals and set design are what really pull this tale together.

While there are flaws that could have been overcome, “Water for Elephants” does come together as a very interesting love story that is as graceful as it is tumultuous.

There were 103 of them.

Snyder, one of the oldest residents of Mount Pleasant, has traveled through the United States, Mexico and Canada. Today, she resides at The Laurels of Mount Pleasant, 400 S. Crapo St.

Snyder has five children, 19 grandchildren and even more great-grandchildren.

On Snyder’s 103rd birthday last month, 103 balloons were let loose into the Mount Pleasant sky, said Laurels Activities Director Becky Kaniski.

“The whole family was here (at The Laurels),” she said.

The early years

Snyder grew up in several towns in Michigan, including Hastings and Vestaburg, in a farming family, where she developed a love for dancing, animals, ice skating and bonfires.

She enjoyed picnics where groups would gather, bring sandwiches and drink cans of cola.

Life was very different than today, she said, including family punishment. Instead of grounding Snyder, for example, her mother tied her to a windmill along with a calf.

“Oh my, I was embarrassed,” Snyder said. “I never did that again.”

Snyder learned how to drive a car at a young age, when her father bought the family’s first car, a Ford Touring. Snyder would occasionally drive the car while her father dropped off milk at neighboring houses. Roads were not developed enough to drive without the car occasionally sinking, she said.

She left school after 10th grade, which was normal for the time, and worked at a pickle factory.

“I was hired (there) for quite a long time,” she said.

Work was not common for females, she said, until World War I.

Snyder met her first husband at the factory, she said, although she did not marry him at the time. Later, however, after divorcing and remarrying, Snyder eventually left her second husband to remarry her first. The two stayed together until his death in 1994.

The Snyder family farm in Vestaburg remains in the family today.

Change, change, change

The Great Depression of the 1930s affected Snyder and her family as well as the nation.

“People were losing jobs, committing suicide; it was terrible,” Snyder said. “Really terrible.”

Even amid the depression, Snyder found employment with a Lansing factory. She applied at her sister-in-law’s suggestion, and received the job instead of her.

“Lo and behold, they hired me,” Snyder said. “I thought she was furious, but she didn’t say anything.”

Snyder has seen many changes in Michigan throughout her life. She sees many more factories than she used to.

Transportation was a lot different, as trains were common for most of her life. But prior to the family’s car, they owned a buggy.

“We’d sit (in the buggy) and eat peanuts on the way home,” Snyder said.

The youth have changed as well, she said.

“Young folks are different, and the music is different,” Snyder said. “So many young folks today sit and watch television; (there is) no exercise like they used to do.”

Religion and family

A religious woman and dedicated follower of the Bible, Snyder listens to an audio CD of the Bible in her spare time. She listened to it twice in its entirety, and is replaying the New Testament.

“I listen to (the Bible) every night,” Snyder said.

Family also is very important to her, and she enjoys visits. Her son, Jim Lee Bollinger and his wife, Mary Lynn, visit regularly.

“We try visit once a week,” Jim Lee Bollinger said.

Kaniski said Snyder receives visitors almost daily.

“She’s a very neat lady and a very proud lady,” she said.