Visually Splendid.....

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2013)

With a mouth of word publicity and the fact that the movie got 11 nominations in Oscars "Life is Pi" had gained an enormous attention during its release. The film is based on a Booker prize winning novel of a teenage Indian boy who gets adrift in a ship wreckage with a zebra, hyena, Orangutan, and a Bengal tiger competing for a fierce battle of survival. The film starts as a family drama on Indian culture, but within few reels the film delves into its main theme on survival. And on this aspect, the film somehow resembles "Cast Away." The difference is "Cast Away" projects the power of a star to hold your attention in the survival game whereas in 'Life of Pi" the specialty is the camera work and the special effects that hold your attention. The shots with the animals like the sequence of the hyena, orangutan and zebra or the shots with the Richard Parker (the tiger) are just mesmerizing. Despite the colorful cinematography and beautiful canvass of the film, the film lacks a meatier story. Anyway, visually the film is splendid and stores some of the best shots of the year.
Rating: 2 stars out of 4