Movie Review: Life of Pi [2012]

"Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long, and none in the company of an adult Bengal tiger"
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"May I call it 2nd AVATAR?!"
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Film that can be reviewed ONLY with photos © ME

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Academy Award winner director Ang Lee filmed a book Life of Pi which mostly considered to be not compatible with screening. Last night I finally saw it in 3D theater and things I watched goes beyond the sense of good film making, this was absolutely brilliant.

Without a spoiler alert I could say that the movie tells a story of Pi - boy trying to survive in the open ocean with Bengal tiger (Richard Parker). He has lost everyone since tragic accident on the ship that delivered his family and the whole zoo previously owned by his father.

Life of Pi is visually stunning film, probably one of the top 5 most beautiful colored films ever. For me, it tied with James Cameron's Avatar is most brilliant work of cinematographer. First thing you notice is amazing pattern of colors in the opening scene of Zoo and outstanding 3D effects. Everything seems so natural, motley and refined that I felt each detail on the screen. There is a moment, when tiger jumps to hyena, that actually frightened me to death.

Movie has kind of two parts: Pi's life in India and Pi's life in ocean. Well, the last one is truly more astonishing however even the sights of Delhi are gorgeous. Production Design is subtle, colorful and very imaginary. I could not tear my eyes away from the screen. And visual effects. Ah, outstanding! Check out photos below to imagine how good it was:

Visual Effect - Bengal Tiger

And this:

One of the most extraordinary moments in the film

As for the content of movie. Acting was pretty good, especially Suraj Sharma, who's portrait of Pi Patel was charming and better than OK. I found the script interesting, the way how story was told, mixing the modern and past time. It really worked for me.

**Spoiler** Well, there is something I observed - a tiger was part of Pi's imagination, more specifically it was another part of him which tried to survived and made Pi stay alive. The other animals also were not real. The reason Patel invented them was a fear of loneliness. He identified orangutan with mother, a zebra - with father and hyena - with threat they were facing. Death of parents made him stronger, he defeated his fears and stayed alive.**End of Spoiler**

Life of Pi is this years one of the best movies and therefore most recommended one to watch.

9/10