A large scale yet very intimate epic

Rating: 10/10 (28 December 2012)

Based on an apparently 'unfilmable' book, Life of Pi tells the powerful story of an Indian man named Pi (after a French swimming pool but shortened to the name of the mathematical number) who recounts the tale of his epic – and fantastical – survival at sea in the company of a Tiger named 'Richard Parker' (seriously) and some assorted wild animals after their ship sinks and they are cast adrift in a lifeboat.
First things first: this is an absolutely incredible movie. In fact, this movie is so good, it ranks as one of the best of 2012. And if there is any justice in the world, it will garner an Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director (Ang Lee), Best Actor (Suraj Sharma – young Pi), Best Supporting Actor (Irrfan Khan – adult Pi) and Best Visual Effects, but more on all these later. Heck, let's throw Best Adapted Screenplay in there too, because this is a movie so well made, it actually hearkens back to a bygone era, almost eradicating the term 'They don't make 'em like they used to'. The scope may be massive, but the movie that is so old fashioned, you could easily imagine it being released eons ago in the 1940s.
Ang Lee, director of the underrated 'Hulk', really deserves a lot of props here. While the easier route would have been to drastically change the story and cast an American in the lead role (stand up M. Night Shyamalan who did just this in 'The Last Airbender – subsequently angering an entire generation of Asians), Lee goes the opposite way and casts an Indian actor, or rather in this case, an Indian non-actor: Suraj Sharma - who plays Pi - had largely no acting experience prior to being cast, making the performance Ang Lee has coaxed out of him all the more extraordinary. You believe his every nuance and considering ninety-nine per cent of the time, he was probably acting with something that was not actually there, the conviction he injects into each scene is amazing.
There has been animosity from some quarters regarding the whole framing device of the adult Pi recounting the story to a writer, dismissing it as an unnecessary obstacle to the crux of the movie: the survival at sea. But those criticisms are wrong; the introductory scenes of the adult Pi recounting his early life in India to the writer interviewing him are a hundred per cent necessary for what eventually transpires. In fact it could be argued that these early scenes are what make the movie: they give a much needed back-story to Pi's youth: being raised at the family zoo, how he got his strange name, and his relationship with his decent - but very tough - father (a brilliant Adil Hussain), who teaches him a very harsh lesson about life and death. These scenes are riveting in themselves and serve as the icing on the cake for what's to come.
Strange as it may sound, the movie actually has a few things in common with a huge sci-fi movie: Avatar. Avatar looked great and the fear was we would have to wait until Avatar 2 before we would see a movie as beautiful again. Not so. Life of Pi is the first movie since Avatar to look THIS amazingly good. As with Avatar, the imagery has a fantastical element mixed in with all its sheer beauty. Furthermore, Life of Pi is also one of the first movies since Avatar to feature a CGI creation that is so photo-realistic and lifelike, that you can't actually tell which is which. The Tiger - Richard Parker – is a complex blend of real animals and computer generated ones. When it moves around on the boat, it's actually difficult to believe it's not a real Tiger – they got the weight distribution and movement so accurate, it's actually difficult to believe it's CGI. The effects company who did it deserve a lot of credit because they must have done a lot of research into the movements of Tigers to get such an accurate representation here. Let's just say Richard Parker in the Life of Pi puts Aslan the Lion in the 'Chronicles of Narnia' movies to shame. The seemingly small scale of the story somewhat underlies the evident technical wizardry that has gone on behind the scenes.
The movie moves fast, is very clever and intelligently executed, and always remains engrossing – despite the hefty running time. There is a very obvious religious motif that runs through the entire thing, which may irritate those who don't like being sledge hammered with spiritual doctrine. You see, much to his father's chagrin, Pi follows three religions simultaneously: Hindu, Christianity and Islam. If you came here for some fast 'put your brain in neutral' action, then you came to the wrong place, pilgrim.
As with Avatar, the 3D stands out as one of the better examples of the format (check out the lizard running up and flicking its tongue into camera at the opening). Refreshingly, it has been shot in 3D rather than being doctored in 3D in post-production and for the most part avoids the old hurling stuff at ya' template that has become the common, go-to practice with movies such as these. With 'Life of Pi', Ang Lee has created a modern classic. Yes, there are elements of darkness to this tale, but surely all fables have those? Simultaneously life affirming while teaching a life-lesson too, this movie will have legs. While a lot of movies come and go, some even largely forgotten, this one looks and feels like something whose life can only extend and whose fan base can only build over time – due, no doubt, in part to the fact that it will become one of those perennial favorites; those rarities that are replayed endlessly every Christmas for new generations to enjoy. Yes, it is THAT good.