Review of Life of Pi (2012) by Jill R — 19 Dec 2014

Life of Pi is a visually stunning film with a beautiful story about an unlikely partnership between a boy and a tiger. Ang Lee directed this gorgeous film, and as soon as I discovered he was making this film I knew this was going to be a winner. Lee has always been able to make emotional and innocent films; for example films like Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon have been a huge influence in cinema and have shown me what a great director he is. This new film has shown that he is able to go places he has never gone before as a filmmaker, and it really is a movie that makes you look at life in a completely different way. This movie has themes that stretch from the belief in a higher power, survival when there seems to be no hope, and how our challenges in life will test us. This movie has some brilliant character development; as we almost instantly love Pi and we see how this great experience changes him. Lee gets the audience to quickly relate to Pi and feels sympathy for him at even the worst times. Pi is that kind of protagonist that an audience can relate to and really enjoy, and he is one of the main reasons that this movie works so well. His bond with Richard Parker (which is the name of the tiger) is truly a beautiful thing and shows how without each other, neither of them would've survived. Lee really makes us feel like we are stranded in the ocean with them, and it makes us feel the same dangers that Pi feels. Ang Lee could've take the novel written by Yann Martel and made it a huge mess, but luckily thanks to his talents as a director he was able to make an emotionally satisfying and beautiful movie. This is that kind of film that really makes you think about what kind of challenges our life has gone through, and how they will shape the rest of our life. This movie is a great experience, and really is one of those movies that could change your life.

The story follows Pi (Suraj Sharma), a teenaged boy who survives through a ship wreck and ends up in a small boat with a Bengal tiger. They must work together to survive and go through the journey that some people could never believe.

The plot is very simple in some people's eyes, but to me it seemed so brilliant. This is a movie that focuses on a human and an animal that try to survive, but the script touches so many more things than that. It shows that our experiences and teachings in life will one day help us through the most struggling situations, and that even the greatest story ever told doesn't have to make any sense. There is a scene where Pi learns of the story of Jesus and he doesn't think it makes any sense, but later after his journey he realizes that his story doesn't really make any sense either. When I saw this I understood what the writers were trying to say. They were trying to tell us a great story like the sacrifice of Jesus Christ may not make a lot of sense most of the time, but what it has taught us is the true meaning of it all. I think Life of Pi did teach me a few things, and whenever a movie can make you look at yourself in a mirror and view your life, you know it was a great film. The story sets up its story and characters very well, so that we could get to know Pi before we set out on this journey with him. I was happy to see the tiger when Pi was a child, so that it would be a much more powerful experience when the two had to deal with each other later on. When I was watching the movie I was happy every time something good happened to Pi, and then devastated whenever something bad happened like a storm. Most people don't know what it would be like to be stranded on a boat, but this movie really puts you in that situation and makes you want its hero to make it out ok. The adult version of Pi is telling the story so we know that he will be ok, but it's the experience through it all that makes it so incredible. No everyone will enjoy this kind of film, but if you enjoy a deep and beautiful film about survival and life then you should see this.

The cast of this movie is actually hard to talk about, because besides the tiger and Suraj Sharma you really don't see many other people. Suraj Sharma carries the weight of the film on his shoulders, and he pulls it off without a problem. I really liked him a lot, I believed he was actually smart and resourceful but also emotional over his struggles throughout the film. I had no idea if his performance could be interesting for almost two hours, but sure enough, he was able to keep the movie alive and gave the audience a lot of good memories. This is the start of a good career for this kid, and I would be very happy to see him in more films. Irrfan Khan plays an older adult version of Pi, and his performance at the end of the movie really had me smile and feel emotional. As he tells the story you can tell he is putting his heart into the performance, and you really get the sense that he remembers everything and that he will always know how the experience changed his life. Tabu plays the mother, and for the few scenes she was in I liked her. Adil Hussain was a tough a strict father, and for the scenes he was in you could tell all he cared about was his family and showing them how life really is. This was a good ensemble, but without the powerful performance from Suraj Sharma as Pi this movie could've failed, so I thank him for bringing a great performance to a great movie.

Life of Pi is that kind of film that you walk into the theater not knowing what you are about to see and then you walk out feeling like you experienced something incredible. You could see that the partnership of Pi and the tiger wasn't about friendship, it was about survival. They needed each other to live and that is why this movie is one of those rare and original films. This is also a great coming of age movie, because as the movie goes on we can see Pi go from this innocent kid into a brave man. Pi has many things that he used to keep him alive, his belief in God, the teachings from his father, and most importantly the bond between him and the tiger. This movie is very similar to Cast Away in a lot of ways, because they both show the survival of its protagonists and how hope kept them from giving up. Although I love both films, I think Life of Pi is a much deeper film because it shows the importance of life and how we must survive even through the toughest struggles. I also need to praise the visuals of the film, because they are truly an achievement. We can rarely see a film that uses the special effects to tell the story, but without the great visuals this movie would never have felt so powerful and wonderful to look at. I wasn't bored in this movie, it never slowed down and I think the tiger always being a threat to Pi is the reason for that. You really feel like the tiger is a person instead of an animal, and that is why I loved the tiger. It's very difficult to describe Life of Pi, because there is so much that this film shows us that we may never understand it. Life of Pi is a powerful film, and it has a story that will make you have a much greater respect for life and its meanings.