Life of Pi

I have never read the book on which this film is based, but I have read numerous articles which kept calling this the "unfilmable" movie. Apparently, its been in some sort of pre-production for years, with numerous famous directors dropping out of the project because they couldn't figure out how to make the damn thing. Enter Ang Lee. If this was indeed the unfilmable movie, Lee made the difficulties seem effortless.

Life of Pi is the story of a young boy growing up on a zoo at a botanical garden in India. He has an interesting childhood, being named after a French swimming pool and finding all sorts of religious much to the chagrin of his father who thinks he'd rather have a son who believes in nothing rather than believing in everything. When Pi is a teenager, his family announces they are moving to Canada for better opportunities. They will take the zoo animals with them and sell them in North America. A few days on the ship and suddenly it capsizes. Pi's family dies and he is stuck on a lifeboat for months at sea trying to survive. His only company is (for a short time) a zebra, an orangatan, a hyena, and (for the long haul) a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

I've read a lot of criticism about the framing of the movie. People seem to not like the fact that the movie starts with the adult Pi (Irrfan Khan) telling a writer (Rafe Spall) all about his story. I didn't mind the framework, although it's far from the most exciting aspect of the story. The movie, for me, really begins when teenager Pi (Suraj Sharma) finds himself on the lifeboat with Richard Parker. This part of the story is reminiscent of a fairytale, so filled with magic and wonder, that you barely care that it's all so far fetched and silly. The movie is beautifully filmed, and like I said, Ang Lee makes it all look easy. There are several images in the film that I am still thinking about on a regular basis days after watching the film. The most notable being a long shot of Pi floating underneath the water while he watches the ship with his family inside sinking. It's a beautiful, haunting image.

I've railed against 3D in the past but when used properly it can definitely help a film. This is one of those cases. The 3D aspect of the movie adds another dimension, which, I guess, is what 3D can do when used by directors who know what they are doing. I hate 3D used as a gimmick, when things are just jumping out at you. It's silly and cliche. But Lee, like Martin Scorsese in last year's best film of the year, Hugo, is a master at using 3D to enhance the story.

The acting is another big plus of the film. For roughly two thirds of the movie, newcomer Sharma is alone on a boat with a CGI tiger. He's a revelation. This movie wouldn't work without the perfect actor to portray Pi and they definitely found him in Sharma.

There were parts of the film I didn't care for. There is a scene at a carnivorous island near the end that just seemed pointless to me. It was a waste of time and also so ridiculous. Plus, I really hated the ending at first. Pi tells a different version of the story, where there were no animals, just human cruelty and I felt cheated for a moment. But, the more I thought about the ending, I agreed with Pi. The version of the story with Pi on a boat with a tiger is definitely the better version.

Grade: B+