A beautiful film, and a visual tour-de-force

Rating: 9/10 (11 December 2012)

A young writer travels to Canada to meet Pi (Irrfan Khan), an Indian man with an incredible story to tell. It is the story of his younger self (Suraj Sharma), who gets stranded in the Pacific Ocean with only a fearsome Bengal tiger to keep him company. The two castaways form a strange bond as they try to stay alive and get help.
That's the story of Life Of Pi, the novel written by Yann Martel back in 2001. For nearly ten years the international bestseller was deemed unfilmable, despite numerous attempts. It was only when Ang Lee took control that the movie became a reality, and it has finally hit the big screen.
The result of Ang Lee's attempts is an epic piece of cinema. The film is absolutely brilliant, with just the right amount of humour, emotion and action to satisfy everyone. I've not read the book yet (I will, for sure), but I get the feeling that justice was done here in regards to the adaptation. Characters are properly fleshed out, major and minor, and relationships are developed well enough to matter as the film goes on. If anything could have been explored better, it would be the relationship between Pi and his mother (Tabu). The influence she has on his life seems understated, and not in a good way.
Life Of Pi is very much a work of fiction; at no point are we led to believe that it is based on reality, and this works massively in the filmmakers' favour. Unlike Zemeckis' Castaway, which is rooted in the reality of it all, Lee opts to focus more on the fantastical and beautiful. There is no real sense of time, and we aren't always told how certain things happen. They just do, and the story moves along.
There are two things that stand out about this movie, and one thing that lets it down sorely. The good first. Suraj Sharma, as Pi, is excellent. Considering he has no acting experience, he is a revelation. And secondly, the movie is visually stunning. Absolutely beautiful from first frame to last. It's a visceral treat.
Now the bad. I watched the film in 3D, and thought many times: why is this in 3D? I counted literally two moments where the 3D worked well. Other than that, it was useless. If the money spent on 3D was spent on shooting it in IMAX, Life Of Pi could have been even better. Instead, it was a bit darker than it needed to be, and everyone sits in a cinema looking like Stevie Wonder for no reason.
The good heavily outweighs the bad, though, and I highly recommend the movie. Like with Avatar, the movie should be seen for the visuals alone. Unlike Avatar though, this is actually a good film. You'll fall in love with the characters, you'll be engrossed with them, and you'll feel a genuine sense of rejoice as everything unravels. I can't tell you if the movie is better or worse than the book. I can tell you that that doesn't matter here: the movie is excellent all on it's own.