A Fantasy the may become a Classic

Rating: 7/10 (30 July 2013)

The word was this book was unfilmable. After finally watching this movie, having not read the book, I can certainly see why. Most of the cast members are animals, who must look and for the most part act like animals. Although you can train some animals, to get them to act on cue is not easy. While watching this movie the pacing was impeccable, meaning the actions of the animals were not reasonable for actual live animals. There are scenes where a human and 2 animals are interacting on a boat. There is no hesitation, the animals appear to hit their marks perfectly, and the three characters create drama nonetheless.
To accomplish this feat, you cannot possibly work with live animals. That meant the animals I was watching on the screen I know were CGI. But save for a couple places, perhaps mostly with the hyena, the effects were undetectable. I have never seen any existing animals (dinosaurs and fictional Avatar beasts not included) rendered by CGI that looked real. I think of the digital wolves in "The Day After Tomorrow", or the beings in "I am Legend". Then I realised that Ang Lee went through great efforts many years ago for "Hulk" to get more natural movements from the CGI models. Even though that film was a flop, his expertise in working with these effects benefited the making of "Life of Pi". With so much at stake at these effects being believable, I am utterly amazed that this film was greenlit. It is such an achievement, there is no doubt that it deserved Academy Awards for effects, cinematography, and direction. The look throughout the film (except for a couple shots near the end) when the tale is being told, has a vivid other-world look to it. Most notable are the effects with water. Although the splashes and waves come off as real (which is probably one of the most difficult effects to produce), the photogenic quality of animals water was surreal in the clarity. And the variety of animals - whales, sharks, flying fish, along with the magnificent looking tiger, were impressive.
Aside from the technical achievement, the story is a fresh entry in the big budget film world. With no stars, and offbeat story of a boy whose father owns a zoo, plays as a series of anecdotes. Only after we are on a ship with the boy and the animals, does the main story of being stranded on a lifeboat play it's way through. Another aspect to the story, perhaps thought unfilmable for the sake of extended interest, were the many days that pass on the lifeboat adrift at sea.
Ang Lee solved this by making the look and feel of every scene seem magical. Such as the boy learning to fish. The camera travels underwater, overhead, and everywhere else. There never is a dull shot. There were some obvious 3D motivated shots, and I believe the film could have benefited from a 3D showing, although I did not see it in the theatre.
This is Ang Lee's best film, and I predict that this film will be considered a classic in the years to come.