Director: Ang Lee
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Suraj Sharma, Rafe Spall, Tabu, Adil Hussain
Rating: A-
A story about a boy shipwrecked and floating on a raft with only a man-eating Bengal tiger to keep him company is almost impossible to believe but beautifully told in the film Life of Pi. Director Ang Lee, who is known for visually stimulating films like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Sense and Sensibility, and The Wedding Banquet, has created a 3D masterpiece that is sure to entrance audiences and leave them in awe of this amazing journey of survival. The film Avatar was hailed as director James Cameron’s 3D wonder, but Ang Lee has managed to far surpass anything Cameron did in this masterfully created visual spectacle that has an astounding story to boot.
The story opens with Pi Patel (Irrfan Khan) narrating the tale of his life to an ambitious writer (Rafe Spall) looking for the next great topic to create a best selling novel. We begin with the life of a young boy growing up in the town of Pondicherry, a French paradise located in southern India. Pi’s family is busy running a successful zoo while the boy Pi’s curiosity about life and God send him on a quest to discover at least three different religions. Much to his unbelieving father’s surprise, Pi actually follows each religion in his search for answers about the meaning of life.
When Pi hits his teenage years, his father encounters financial difficulties and announces one day that the family will pack up all the animals (they lived in a hotel/zoo), set sail by sea for Canada, sell the animals, and use the money from the sales to start a new life. Unfortunately, fate sets in and there is a huge storm at sea that causes the freight carrier the family is traveling aboard to sink, with Pi as the only human survivor. He winds up in a small boat, but he is not alone. He is joined by a scared zebra, an annoying hyena, an adorable orangutan, and a ferocious Bengal tiger. The law of the jungle prevails on the tiny boat and the end result is that Pi is left alone with the tiger that could eat him for lunch at any moment. Can the day get any worse as the battle of who is boss is now in full swing on the pint-sized vessel?
To keep himself safe from Richard Parker (that is the tiger’s pet name), Pi makes a raft that he ties to the boat as he figures out exactly how he is going to co-exist with his unwilling wild partner at sea. Without giving too much away, there is about an hour spent in the film with the shipwrecked survivors floating at sea and the relationship that develops between the two keeps the film moving along nicely. Although there are some slow points during this hour it is well worth the wait to see what is going to happen to the boy and the tiger.
The 3D effects in Life of Pi are absolutely amazing! It feels like a big screen fantasy amusement park for movie watchers looking for the ultimate high from visual stimulation. Everything from the shots of the night sky reflecting off the ocean waters, to flying fish, luminous jelly fish, and a majestic whale are captured beautifully in each shot without being completely over the top. In the beginning of the film there are lush colorful scenes of exotic India giving life in the Far East a dream like quality. You can’t distinguish between the CGI version of the tiger and the real tiger. The changing moods of the tiger from ferocious, to starving, to exhausted, and ultimately at peace are quite believable. The expressions captured in the eyes of the Bengal predator will make you believe (as the young Pi did in the beginning of the film) that creature has been blessed by God with a soul.
Life of Pi does not rely solely on special effects to make it a great film. It is the wonderful story of hope, faith, love and survival that make this a great film. The stellar performance of Suraj Sharma as the teenage Pi is captivating as his struggle at sea engrosses you into his deep emotional experience.
This was an ambitious film project for Ang Lee to take on and he must have had a deep conviction to know that this movie was going to work. The story of not losing hope is told effectively in about three feet of space and only a skilled filmmaker like Lee would know how to get all the moving parts together to make it all believable and entertaining. The film starts off with quite a bit of humor, but then gracefully moves into the real message of the piece which is humanity’s ability to find inner strength at the most difficult times. The detail in each frame of the film shows the passion that Lee had for getting this project done, and he will be fondly remembered for taking 3D and storytelling to new heights.
Life of Pi possesses “the wow factor” that will leave you totally in awe of this movie. You just can’t help but say to yourself after watching the film “Oh My God – that was amazing!” One of the best stories ever told about survival and never losing hope even if you are stuck in the middle of the ocean, and a snarling hungry tiger’s grip of death is only one foot away.
LIFE OF PI opens November 21, 2012
I wanted to read the book but never got around to it. I didn’t have high expectations for the movie, seeing as many films made after a movie have a lot wrong with them. It turned out to be brilliant! The colorful situations he was presented were both literal and figurative. I hope to see this movie again soon. I’ve already added Life of Pi to my queue on Blockbuster @Home from DISH, so as soon as it’s available on Blu-Ray, I won’t have to scope it out at the store. I saw it with one of my DISH coworkers and we would recommend seeing it for sure.