Life Of Pi - Movie Review

Rating: 5 out of 5

Working with perceptive writer David Magee (Finding Neverand), Ang Lee creates one of the most thoughtful, artistic blockbusters ever made by a Hollywood studio. Although Yann Martel's award-winning novel was considered unfilmable, Magee and Lee have managed to maintain the delicate balance of an awesome adventure story with provocative themes that echo long after the story reaches its tricky, mind-expanding conclusion.

Imaginative teen Pi Patel (Sharma) grew up in a zoo owned by his parents (Hussain and Tabu) in formerly French India. And when hard times come, they decide to pack up and move with the animals to Canada. But the ship they are travelling on runs into a fierce storm in the Pacific, sinking suddenly and leaving Pi as the lone survivor on a lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a frantic hyena, a seasick orang-utan and a hungry Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Over the coming months, Pi and Richard Parker survive due to the challenges of coexisting in such a confined space. And with his Buddhist, Christian and Islamic beliefs, Pi now believes the experience also helps explain the existence of God.

The film adds a framing device as a writer (Spall) interviews the older Pi (Khan), essentially putting both us and Martel into the story. This helps open the themes up in intensely personal ways, while grounding the extravagantly visual ordeal at sea with a quietly involving house-bound conversation. And far from removing suspense, knowing that Pi survives brings out the layers of meaning in ways that are suspenseful and challenging. Everything about the story is infused with the idea of faith in God, with intriguing parallels in the relationships between humans, animals and nature. But none of this is overstated: it's subtle and questioning rather than preachy. And much more effective as a result.

Along the way, Lee continually wows us with spectacular imagery, including especially clever editing to astounding effects. Even when we suspect that we might be watching a digital version of the tiger, Richard Parker is such a vivid character that we are never thrown out of the story. And Sharma is wonderful in this seriously demanding role. Stir in the considerable skills of cinematographer Claudio Miranda and composer Mychael Danna, and watching the film feels like taking an amazing journey. Few blockbusters are this emotionally involving. And almost none leave us with things to think about for the rest of our lives.

Rich Cline

Facts and Figures

Year: 2012

Genre: Dramas

Run time: 127 mins

In Theaters: Wednesday 21st November 2012

Box Office USA: $125.0M

Box Office Worldwide: $113.5M

Budget: $120M

Distributed by: 20th Century Fox

Production compaines: Fox 2000 Pictures, Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Media, Haishang Films, Big Screen Productions, Ingenious Film Partners

Reviews

Contactmusic.com: 5 / 5

Rotten Tomatoes: 87%
Fresh: 197 Rotten: 29

IMDB: 8.0 / 10

Cast & Crew

Director: Ang Lee

Producer: Ang Lee, Gil Netter, David Womark

Screenwriter: David Magee

Starring: Suraj Sharma as Pi Patel (16 / 17 Years), Irrfan Khan as Pi Patel (Adult), Ayush Tandon as Pi Patel (11 / 12 Years), Gautam Belur as Pi Patel (5 Years), Adil Hussain as Santosh Patel, Tabu as Gita Patel, Rafe Spall as Writer, Gérard Depardieu as Cook, James Saito as Older Insurance Investigator, Jun Naito as Younger Insurance Investigator, Andrea Di Stefano as Priest, Vibish Sivakumar as Ravi Patel (18/19 years), Mohd Abbas Khaleeli as Ravi Patel ( 13/ 14 years), Shravanthi Sainath as Anandi, Elie Alouf as Mamaji, Padmini Ramachandran as Dance Master, T.M. Karthik as Science Teacher, Amarendran Ramanan as Indian History Teacher, Hari Mina Bala as Librarian, Wang Bo-Chieh as Buddhist Sailor, Ayaan Khan as Ravi Patel (7 Years)

Also starring: Gerard Depardieu, Ang Lee, Gil Netter, David Womark, David Magee