First of all, I was very skeptical about seeing an adaptation of this novel on the big screen when it was first announced a couple years ago. This book is my favorite novel of all time, so my expectations are hard to live up to. It is a very difficult concept to properly grasp on film, due to the fact that the two main characters are a boy and a tiger. Enter Ang Lee–who has masterfully grasped the ideals put forth by Yann Martel in the novel and portrayed them for the masses to see on the big screen. I am very thankful for Lee’s decision to remove Tobey Maguire from the project, because after seeing the movie, Lee was right; Tobey would have taken away from the role because of his fame. Lee takes viewers on an emotional and religious journey for two hours. This journey is both visually stunning and in full 3D. While the movie is a visual masterpiece, the comparison to James Cameron’s Avatar is a little over the top. But that’s okay; the point of Life of Pi is not to be visually stunning, but to be an emotional and spiritual experience. Mission accomplished, Ang Lee. Irrfan Khan portrayed the adult Pi Patel and also did a fantastic job. As the adult Pi, Khan gives a very moving performance that gives moviegoers a unique insight and provides for intellectual ideas–picture the adult Pi as the Master Splinter of the movie. Through a vivid narrative and emotionally charged conversation with the writer, Khan provides an important piece to treasure that is Life of Pi. Drop that knowledge, Khan! For the majority of the film, David Magee (you might know the name from Finding Neverland) has done a wonderful job adapting this unique and challenging novel to a screenplay. However, I do have some minor issues. For one, I do not recall there being any love interest in the novel, but there is one in the film. While I’m not sure if Magee or Lee is to blame, it still has to be mentioned. Also, Pi never got close enough to Richard Parker to put his head on his lap near the end of the novel. I am also very disappointed that Magee decided to leave out a very important scene from the novel–the scene where Pi goes blind and meets another blind man at sea. Obviously, Magee did this because it would be very hard to film without ruining the ending of the movie. However, Magee and Lee should have found a way to include it in the film, it is that important to the novel’s development. This move felt overdone and cheesy, but didn’t ruin the movie. I do love the fact that Magee decided to throw in the name of the orangutan in the movie–what else would you call an orangutan but Orange Juice? Credit also has to be given to Claudio Miranda, director of photography and David Gropman, production designer, because without them the film would not have been as majestic in is. Their use of vibrant colors throughout the movie, especially while Pi is at sea, are what make it such a wonderful cinematic experience. I only have two real minor gripes with the film. My first issue is that I would have liked to have seen it shed its PG rating to gain PG-13 status, so that we could have seen some of the more gruesome moments in the novel brought to life on the big screen. For example, showing the goat actually being mauled would have had more of an effect on the audience than just cutting to Pi and his father looking away. My second issue with the film is that it took the book in a little bit of a different direction; the movie focuses more on the religious aspects of the novel, while the book uses religion as an underlying theme. These two issues are not nearly enough to ruin the movie, but they are worth mentioning for fans of the novel. Overall, Life of Pi receives an 8 out of 10 for its visually stunning cinematics and beautiful, almost lyrical, story.
title: “Life Of Pi Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-08-10” author: “Jared Krajcer”
Life Of Pi is shot largely at sea, and contains an incalculable number of animals and special effects shots; and as the directors of movies such as Jaws, Waterworld or Battleship will probably tell you, filming at sea can be fraught with production nightmares on its own, without adding CG effects and wild animals into the mix. Life Of Pi unfolds like an ancient mariner’s tall tale, related by a middle-aged Pi Patel (Irfan Khan) to a nameless Canadian writer played by Rafe Spall. As Pi digs back into his past, Lee cuts to Pondicherry, India, where a 12-year-old Pi (here played by Ayush Tandon) grows up on the grounds of a zoo owned by his eccentric parents – hence the menagerie of creatures introduced in the opening credits. Although raised a Hindu, Pi becomes something of a connoisseur of religions, as a series of experiences leave him swing from Hindu to Christianity, and then to Islam. Life Of Pi lays its stall out early as a movie with big themes about existence and religion, about where humans fit in the grand scheme of the animal kingdom and the cosmos. But Ang Lee invest this potentially beard-stroking subject matter with humour and (one conversation with a Christian priest aside) a lightness of touch; Pi’s youthful fascination with religions of all kinds is gently undercut by his father’s cold rationalism (“You’ll only have to collect three more religions,” he says, “And you’ll always be on holiday”), and there ‘s a rhythm and precise style of framing to these early scenes which recalls Wes Anderson. When a storm whips up and sinks the boat, Pi (now 16 and played by Suraj Sharma) is left on a life raft with another unexpected survivor: a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker (the backstory behind this name is too delicious to reveal in a web post), a handful of supplies and nothing but an expanse of ocean in every direction. This turn of events is shot in a matter-of-fact way, without incidental music or protracted scenes of anguish, and at first, it’s easy to be a little nonplussed by how emotionless this potentially horrific occurrence is; it’s only later that it becomes obvious what Lee is up to. Throughout, Lee dances a thin and dangerous line between fantasy and realism, between colourful whimsy and the stark danger of being stranded at sea. Even as a moviegoer who’s grudgingly accepting of 3D rather than wholeheartedly accepting, it has to be said that the stereoscopy in Life Of Pi is subtle at worst and riveting at best. Moments of tension are given an added jolt when viewed through those flimsy specs, and the scenes of (mercifully Coldplay-free) wonder are imbued with added luminosity. The CG effects are even better. Put simply, Life Of Pi is a movie which could not have existed a decade or two ago. Even though part of our brain might scan for signs of artifice and occasionally find it, the quality of the animation and texturing on Richard and the film’s other animals is such that even the most jaded eye will give up trying to spot the joins after a few minutes or so. This is partly thanks to sheer technical sophistication, but also thanks to the direction and cinematography, which sets us up for extraordinary sights long before they occur. By the time we’re greeted by a surreal sea of meerkats, we simply smile and nod rather than hunt for telltale pixels. Although the effects may steal many of the scenes, the quality of the whole production is worthy of praise. Claudio Miranda’s score is ominous and wondrous, and the performances are excellent throughout. Most importantly, Life Of Pi is a great story. Yes, it’s a story about survival that is as old as the novel itself, but its ambiguity, light and shade and sheer gall make it almost irresistible. Life Of Pi is out in UK cinemas on the 10th December.
