Spectacular for Viewing, Inferior to Reading

Rating: 9/10 (26 June 2019)

I hadn't wanted to see this film because I hadn't thought that the book could translate to film. In complexity it didn't exactly, but it was so visually beautiful that I was totally enchanted. My son's whispered questions ("Why is he crying?") when Pi killed a fish made the experience more meaningful than I had anticipated, since my son knows but probably doesn't understand my vegetarianism, which feels like religion.
Despite the incredible cinematography of the movie, the image of a still boat on water could have been accompanied by Yann Martel's brilliant narrative: ruminations on the sea, "The sea roared like a tiger. The sea whispered in your ear like a friend telling you secrets. The sea clinked like small change in a pocket..."), or fear "It's life's only true opponent.
Only fear can defeat life...One moment you are feeling calm, self-possessed, happy. Then fear, disguised in the garb of mild-mannered doubt, slips into your mind like a spy...", the sacrilege of Pi killing a fish: "I felt I was beating a rainbow to death." Only in words could an orangutan be compared to the Virgin Mary, could God be described this way: "...God's hat was always unraveling. God's pants were falling apart. God's cat was a constant danger. God's ark was a jail. God's wide acres were slowly killing me. God's ear didn't seem to be listening." Even the spectacle of watching an excellent movie can't replace the full-bodied experience of reading a great book.