In Life of Pi, Ang Lee’s visually spectacular version of the Yann Martel fable, an Indian teenager is shipwrecked and must share a lifeboat for 227 days with a Bengal tiger. This is no Disney tiger – it will eat the teenager if it can. Packaged as a survivalist adventure, Life of Pi turns out to be a sage commentary on storytelling.
Over an hour of the movie is spent floating helplessly on the seas, but this part of the story doesn’t lag because of the wry humor (the tiger is named Richard Parker, for instance), the ever-present menace (said tiger) and the incredible spectacle created by Lee. Life of Pi is one of the most visually astonishing films ever. In scene after scene, we gasp at a flotilla of flying fish chased by torpedo-like tuna, a floating island filled with meerkats, nighttime views of bio-luminescent sea creatures and on and on.
And then there’s the tiger. Almost all of the tiger footage is CGI – and I never for a moment doubted that I was watching a real tiger. I saw it in 2D, but I imagine that Life of Pi might be even more magical in 3D, and one of the few 3D movies worth the premium ticket price.
Life of Pi, is a movie your mind comes back to after you have left the theater to ponder, and consider life, God, choices we make in life. Cinematography is at its best. And then come back a re read the book to explore even more.