Excellent visuals. The best 3D visuals since Avatar

Rating: 7/10 (6 January 2013)

The tale of Pi Patel, an Indian boy who grew up in a zoo in Pondicherry. The movie is shown as narrated to an author interested in penning his adventures. The main focus is on Pi's incredible journey from India, where he lost his parents and older brother in a violent storm. They were headed towards Canada to sell off their animals and start a new life, but a horrific storm wiped out the entire crew. Pi is stranded alone on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named 'Richard Parker'.
The core of the story is how Pi manages to co-exist with Richard Parker in the harsh environment of the Pacific, with limited supplies, no help in sight, and unpredictable weather.
The movie is an artistic delight. Fantastic visuals (The best use of 3D visuals since Avatar), amazing storytelling, good plot-line, and compelling camera-work. The narration was largely visual. With only one human survivor, the story couldn't be pulled through conversations. I expected a voice-over accompaniment throughout the movie, which would have been the easy way out. However, it went without the voice-over, like the 2000 movie Castaway - and this allowed the audience to drink in the vast emptiness and loneliness that perseveres through the movie.
The story was interesting, but straightforward. This is possibly why the twist at the end of the story took me completely by surprise. I won't give out spoilers, but a subtle twist that leaves something ambiguous puts an entirely different shade to the whole experience. And that escalates the story from a good one to a truly excellent one.