A film that you will never let go of...

Rating: 9/10 (5 January 2013)

Wow. Simply, Wow. 'Life of Pi' is on of those films which will always stay at the front of your mind. Every scene is so beautifully done, every theme so well interwoven. This film is exactly what I was looking for and more.
The cast (albeit small) performed brilliantly. About a third of the film has more than 3 characters involved in it, while the rest is really just 2 (if you count the tiger as a character). The acting in those solitary scenes out at sea are done brilliantly. You really feel an emotional attachment to both Pi and Richard Parker (the tiger's rather humorous name). Every struggle between them makes you feel scared, every pain makes you feel for them. I have never left the cinema missing every character as much as I did with Life of Pi (OK, maybe spirited away was just as heart-tugging).
The plot is very well strung together. Ang Lee has tied in the themes of the book absolutely superbly. What annoys me about some films is that if they do have a meaning they try to hide it, but Life of Pi really doesn't. The meaning is related clearly to discovering God, and how we are really more animal-like than we think (it turns out the story with animals is more human than the story with humans). What also amazes me is how Ang Lee managed to put in sequences which served no purpose to the plot, just there to be purely beautiful, and get away with it! Many films annoy me when they include visually-superb sequences because they detract from the feeling of the film too much, but not this one. The fact that the entire film just looks SO GOOD means that these scenes ,made just to look good, really work. I saw this film in 3D and, despite my hatred of 3D (no film has really justified the price increase), Life of Pi actually looked great in 3D. Every scene had noticeable 3D in it. Whether this was just going further into the screen or, in many cases surprisingly, popping out of the screen, it really did work.
So, #Life of Pi', is it the best film of 2012? No, but then again if it was then there must be something wrong with the world. I say that because this films' meaning is just so brilliant, so emotionally spectacular, that it just cannot be considered to be a film like any other. I actually feel bad about ranking it out of 10, but obviously I have to keep track of it somehow. Really, I would rank it as 'Pure Emotional Brilliance/10', but I'm afraid my IMDb vow prevents me from doing that. 'Life of Pi' offers a superb character ensemble, visuals which , dare I say rival those in 'Prometheus', and a plot so emotional, so perfect that it truly deserves it's 9.5/10 rating.
P.S; I miss Richard Parker