Brilliant

Rating: 10/10 (26 November 2012)

So far this is the best movie of the year. It is an entertaining, well-directed, well-performed piece of art. If you want to see what groundbreaking crafts look like, go see it. Yes, the special effects are mind-boggling, especially Richard Parker, the tiger. But only when you look beyond the 3-D and visual effects that hold you in awe for most part of the movie (and that you have probably read in several critical reviews) you begin to see the real genius of the film and its director. This is a Taiwanese director making a movie with a mostly Indian cast, about Indian characters and places and he pulls it off so well (his India is way more credible than the Dickenson India shown in Slumdog).
Life Of Pi is a bold movie made by a bold director who does not shy from making unconventional movies. Yes, it will upset some people for its unconventional subject, and some critics will find the off-beat movie preachy for they have grown so used to understatements and subtleties that they confuse those with art, but nobody can deny the powerful force of the movie. For the most part, the movie has only one human character on screen and yet it never gets boring - slow at times perhaps, but not boring. One last point - the movie could not have been what it is without the actors, particularly the one who plays adult Pi and the young actor who portrays teenage Pi and gives an unbelievable debut performance.