Engaging. Impressive. Riveting.

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2013)

When the Narrator of the story is in the title, you can be sure the Narrator will not die. Pi (Suraj Sharma) is the Narrator. He and his family are on their way to Canada to sell their family zoo. A storm comes up and wrecks the ship and the only survivors are: Pi, a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a Bengal Tiger (so named Richard Parker due to a cargo manifest order mix-up when the family bought him). Peter Parker was already taken. HA!
After the Tiger eats the other animals, Pi decides he needs to teach the Tiger to fish or he will be eaten too. Wait, that's not right. What to do? What to do? Well, there is only one solution left and Pi hopes Richard Parker has enough intelligence to catch on.
Now, getting the heavy stuff out of the way, there are 2-stories in here and which will you believe? The mystical one: a tiger and boy on a life boat; or a more believable one where Pi's mother, a seaman, and cook are in the life boat with Pi? Much of this has to do with a belief in God or having faith as the adult Pi (Irrfan Khan) unfolds the story to a writer who was told he would believe in God when he heard Pi's story.
Okay, good choice. You selected the boy and the tiger. Once they are in the boat together, there is nothing but tension, wariness, anger, fear and really too much suspense. But this never drags. It is like you are Pi and watching out for the tiger every minute of the day and night; and you don't dare rest – and even though we are watching from a comfortable couch, we cannot rest either. We are riveted as is Pi.
Yes, there is much CGI in here but everything is so well done, we are still afraid to sleep. We see Pi put together a make-shift raft away from the boat attached with a tether. Now Pi is able to get some restand we try too.
We see storms with very high waves, lightning, sharks, whales, flying fish come upon Pi and the tiger and even though Pi, as a very young boy, experimented with Catholicism (even asked to be baptized), and Islam it was the Hindu god Vishnu who he thanked for saving them time and time again. Hey, you go with what you know.
The cinematography and photography are simply outstanding.
Did you go with what you know when you selected your choice as I asked above? Do you know why the Tiger didn't look back at Pi when they landed on the sand? When you know the answer to that, you then know which story was the true one. (9/10)
Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.