Life of Pi Review

I wasn't quite sure what to expect as I went into Life of Pi earlier this week. All I knew from the trailers was that it was about a boy stranded on the sea with a tiger. Great reviews and Oscar buzz was enough for me to give the PG-rated family film a shot. After all was said and done, I came out very pleased that I made the choice to see it. It is a visual masterpiece and quite the touching and thought provoking story.

So what is the movie actually about? Well first off it is based off the book of the same title written by Yann Martel. I have not read the book, so I apologize that I cannot make a book vs movie comparison in this review. But the movie is about a young Indian boy. Indian being from the country of India, not Native American. The boy's name is Piscine Molitor Patel, Pi for short. Knowing that, the title Life of Pi makes perfect sense. It is a story about his life. Specifically a time where his family made the decision to move from India to Canada and in doing so they took a ship to Canada so they could also transport the animals from the Zoo the family owned that they just sold. I leave most of the rest of the story for you to discover on your own, but the main conflict comes when the ship wrecks and Pi is found stranded on a life boat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Like I said, the story is a very moving one of courage and endurance that really makes you ponder and reflect on life. I obviously won't spoil the ending, but I will say that it is a very interesting one that makes you think.

There are two aspects to this movie that compliment the story really well and make this movie work. The first is the visual effects. They are absolutely beautiful. Ang Lee has a tendency of making beautiful movies and this one certainly follows that. In fact with all the award buzz, I'm not sure if this will end up winning best picture, but it certainly deserves an Oscar for best cinematography, because it is visually the best movie I have seen so far this year. And I saw it in 2D, but there were several times where I was saying to myself that I wish I had seen it in 3D, so keep that in mind as you head to theaters. The second thing that made this movie really good was a brilliant score. I don't know if Mychael Danna will win the Oscar for best original score, but he deserves a nomination at the least.

Overall, if you need a good family film to go see this holiday season, I would suggest you give Life of Pi a shot. People often associate a PG movie to a kids movie in these days and while this movie is perfectly appropriate for kids, save for maybe a few jump scenes with the tiger that may frighten the younger crowd, adults are the ones that will appreciate this movie more, so go see it. I am giving it a 9 out of 10.