Disappointing and confused

Rating: 5/10 (26 December 2012)

I haven't read Life of Pi, and feel that being too faithful to the book may have been where screenwriter David Magee went wrong.
At its heart it seems to be a simple story - an allegory about a boy and a tiger that masks an horrific experience on board a drifting lifeboat. However, the structure of the piece means that when the truth is finally relayed in the film, all its impact is lost in the confusion of what has gone before. Instead of shock, I felt only irritation that the two-hour allegory had been so unambiguous and had given no hints to the truth which - for maximum effect - should have immediately become apparent in the telling of the second story. So instead of feeling illuminated by the end, I felt cheated and disappointed.
Visually it's gorgeous, the acting is first rate, the CGI seamless and the 3D is nice enough, but the movie drags in several places (the mangrove island is just pretty padding) and although the animals portrayed are CGI versions, they are so realistic that I was more upset by the scenes of their slaughter than I was when that was related to the deaths of real people. I would not take a child to see this movie without considering the scenes of animal suffering. Just because they are CGI animals does not make it less traumatic.
All in all, a disappointing trip to the movies, where I felt the writer and director lost sight of the most important emotional arc and thereby diminished any impact at the end which would have made up for a rather slow - if beautiful - film.