LIFE OF PI

Cole's Rating: ★★★
Uncle Jesse's Rating: ★★★ 1/2

Year: 2012

Cast: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan
Genre: Adventure/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG

        A young man and a bengal tiger are the only survivors of a  shipwreck, and are stranded on a boat in the middle of the Pacific ocean. Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma) is forced to learn how to cope with the tiger, while at the same time, trying to survive himself. This is the intriguing plot line of Life Of Pi, originally written by Yann Martel, and directed by Ang Lee. 

  Now if this movie does not win a Visual Effects award, I will personally call the Oscar committee and complain. Let me tell you that I have never seen anything as spectacular as this in my entire life, and I can only hope that I ever will again; and in 3D, it was even better. I was so awed that I had leaned closer to the screen in hopes to plunge into the never ending, perfectly peaceful water that reflected the beautiful morning sun in a scene that forever raised the bar for the visual aspect of a film.

  The film began slow. It spent what in my opinion was too much time delving into his religious background and his childhood in India, and how his family desired to move to Canada to relocate their zoo. This was a substantial 30 minutes, which I thought was too much. Then, they found a freighter ship to take them up to Canada. This is when the first storm of the movie kicked in and took the huge freighter ship down, which leaves Pi, the tiger, and three other animals (zebra, orangutan, and hyena). The journey was spectacular, a story of survival beyond anybody’s wildest dreams. From carnivorous islands, to flying fish, this film offers a variety of wildly enjoyable and potent scenes that can be appreciated and adored by all viewers.

        Despite the excessive amount of enjoyment I had while watching the film, the ending, which required spiritual and faithful depiction played out to my distaste. No more will be said about it by this critic, so as to not spoil the movie; but it was the down point for me. Nonetheless, Life of Pi is a fantastic movie, adapted from a book that nobody believed could be brought to life; but it sure was.

Written by Cole Pollyea