Today's Review: Life Of Pi

Have you ever read a book and thought, "Man, this would make a good movie", and then they make that movie, nine years later? Well, yeah, that's happened to me now, and quite frankly I couldn't remember too much of the plot, but maybe that's a good thing.

Life Of Pi follows the misfortunes of Pi, an Indian boy who finds himself in the midst of a shipwreck when his family attempted to move their zoo animals to Canada. The ship sinks, everyone is lost, but Pi remains, floating on a life boat with some unlikely animal companions, most notably the tiger, Richard Parker.

Of course, it's not just about a boy and his tiger. Life Of Pi is a very metaphorical movie, that bases itself on religion. Pi establishes himself from the beginning as a spiritual person who follows many different religions, and the amount of allegories and metaphors throughout is clearly well planned, especially in the final scenes. So while we see an awe-inspiring tale of a boy struggling to survive in the ocean with a fierce tiger, this one will really leave you thinking after you've left, as to what was truly going on, and what the whole thing means.

Visually, Life Of Pi is pretty stunning. While the majority is spent looking at a boat in clear waters, they managed to throw in a lot of awesome visuals. The shipwreck itself looks amazing, and some of the phenomena that Pi encounters at sea are wonderful. The best thing though, has to be the computer animation built around the tiger. His actions are wonderfully created, giving him as much character as anyone else in the whole production. 

That is, perhaps, where the movie falls short though. The actor playing Pi had no previous acting experience, and while he does a good job, it certainly does show a little. Everyone seemed to pull in a good performance, but there was nothing that really left me thinking they had done an amazing job. This movie is all about the visuals, and the story, and it lays them on in bucket loads. While the 3D isn't too great, there is a lot of beautiful stuff to look at here, and the images and thoughts that Life Of Pi left me with will probably stay with me for a while. It's an epic, beautiful movie that, while not perfect, is definitely worth a watch.

My rating: 4/5