Richard and Pi's Excellent Adventure

Rating: 8/10 (21 January 2013)

Life of Pi, it turns out, isn't about that tasty dessert or a boring series of numberseven though they do list them out in one fairly decent scene.
Actually, this movie has multiples of great scenes. Namely the enormously gorgeous cinematography. Ang Lee is known for that, or at least, used to be in such excellent films: Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Wedding Banquet and yeah, even Hulk – but that was the only real attribute to that film.
The dialogue was great, the acting too. The originality was refreshing and I loved all performances. You would never know in an Ang Lee film (well, skipping Hulk) if actors are trained prior and are amateurs, or professionals. Not only does he have a great eye, he knows how to lead.
Boy Pi recounts his life journeys to a novelist and it's an amazing adventure, mostly on a lifeboat following a ship wreck to a new land from India. On said boat, he shares the ride with a hungry tiger and incredibly survives (I did say he's telling his back story in present time, so no, that's not a spoiler.)
That's the basic premise, even though there's a lot more to the story.
To me, the real beauty was in the filmmaking, the breathtaking out-to-sea scenes and the actor's, Suraj Sharma (Pi,) excellent ability to carry the majority of the movie on rough seas. I'd probably die within days, or kill the so wonderfully named tiger: Richard Parker, for food. Sorry, (big) cat lovers out there.
The movie did not have great marketing, and maybe that's because they didn't know how to show this adventure in a few quick minutes of screen time. Nevertheless, it's highly recommended, and if you get a chance to see it on the big screen, you better.
Side Note: Richard Parker, the furious tiger, actually made me take a second look at the house cat at my residence. "Don't get any ideas, hungry one," I would say through my eyes the very next time I saw the house cat following watching this.