Master Storytelling!

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2013)

This is the most wonderfully original movie I've seen in such a long time. It is set up with an amazing touch. We are absorbed into the Indian culture by some of the most lovely people. They are understanding of Pi's dilemmas and his religious confusion. They support him, although he is an arrogant little twit at times. There is an amazing scene where he shatters his boundaries and almost gets himself killed by the tiger who later becomes his shipmate. The special effects are probably some of the most believable and effective I have ever scene, from the shipwreck to the game of (excuse the expression) cat and mouse that ensues. We are totally involved in the incredible story of Pi and how he uses his knowledge and survival skills to maintain both his life and his sanity. The tiger, Richard Parker, is so well conceived and so believable in his own evolution that we grow to feel for him and his fate. There is a comradeship that one can only view. I found myself describing this movie to a friend, and when I finished he acted like I was crazy to have liked it. I guess Pi felt the same way. This is a movie that takes a wonderful book and an amazing story to new depths. There is also, of course, Pi's struggle with his views of a god that he can't quite define. His is an honest doubt. No character in fiction is asked for more and has to question the entity that he says as responsible for the loss of his family and his abject loneliness in the middle of the Pacific. I can't wait for this to come out on video so I can savor it again. My regret is that I didn't get to see it in 3D which I don't normally care for.