Life of Pi

The story goes: A Canadian writer (Rafe Spall) has been told that an Indian called Piscine 'Pi' Patel (adult Pi = Irrfan Khan), who lives in French Canada, has a wonderful story to tell. Piscine tells the writer how he came to have a name which has nothing to do with mathematics. He tells of his childhood in Pondicherry, India, how other children ridiculed Piscine's (age 5 Gautam Belur, age 11/12 Ayush Tandon) name, and how his father, a businessman, decided to create a zoo. However, in time the zoo can no longer be afforded and the animals are to be sold in Canada. The family and animals are travelling there on a cargo ship but it's shipwrecked when a storm brews up. The teenage Pi (Suraj Sharma) survives the disaster and is afloat in a lifeboat together with an assortment of animals including a feisty Bengal tiger called Richard Parker. Of all the aesthetically pleasing movies I have seen Life of Pi (2012) has to be up there with the best. I watched this on a Blu-ray and from the opening moments I felt as if I were almost watching it in 3D. The colours are exquisite, the characters seem to stand out from the screen, and the attention to detail was amazing; for example, at the beginning during the opening credits, we see a monkey swinging in a tree and then a letter from one of the names onscreen drops and swings. It goes without saying that the CGIs and special effects were outstanding. Truly, although my Blu-ray collection is not yet extensive, Life of Pi makes the others seem to be far from High Definition. I began watching Life of Pi (2012) with not the slightest idea of what the film would be about other than a youth and a tiger being adrift at sea. I have not, as yet, read the book by Yann Martel. Some reviewers have written spoilers for this movie, revealing the conclusion of the movie. No spoilers here. Watch and be surprised by adult Pi's revelations, as I was. If you buy the Blu-ray (or DVD) be sure to watch the extras about how the movie, which took 4 years to make and cost approx. $120 million, was made. Fascinating stuff. A real tiger called King was involved in the making of this movie and the real tiger is cleverly used in the movie together with a computer generated tiger. It's not easy to tell which is which and the director, Ang Lee, was fooled when shown CGI images of the tiger before the film was finalised. In the extra footage, we see close up photographs of the face of King and the CGI (computer generated image) side by side and the latter is incredibly realistic. The CGI tiger was slightly larger and, to me, looked a bit more friendly! The extras are very informative about the making of the film, of finding the young actor, Suraj, who had never acted before. I strongly recommend watching the movie first though because once you discover how it was all made then the movie might lose some of its magic for you. This is an interesting webpage that you might find interesting about the making of the movie but, again, I wouldn't want to see it before I'd seen the movie: fxguide.com/featured/life-of-pi/ Something that very much interested me was that Ang Lee and the Life of Pi movie team utilised the knowledge and experience of Steven Callahan, who was adrift at sea on a raft for 76 days after his sloop capsized, and bore hunger and heat while being attacked by sharks and being overlooked by passing ships. Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea, available at Amazon. Another thing that caught my attention and let me know Pi had arrived in the Caribbean was the flying fish. They are the national dish of Barbados. A wonderful moment, when the fish had 'flown' by with a predator swimming behind them, was that Pi was covered in fish scales. While the movie is rated PG, I think some of the scenes are quite harrowing and really are not suitable for children, especially younger ones.

I have made a promise to myself concerning this film if I ever have the possibility to see this film at the cinema, and also have the luck to see it in 3D I will try my hardest to accomplish it. I remember watching this film originally from the TV and being so mesmerised I went and purchased the Blu-ray straight away from Amazon. I have recently re-watched the film and once again had such joy watching the film. Always very reluctant to watch films that have been adapted from books but this really intrigued me because of the complexity of the story, how will the extraordinary elements of this story be captured on film, and there was going to be a big need of visual effects in this film would they be a good standard Nothing prepares you for the utter sublime art-evoked CGI. The character of Tiger is amazing in its realism and the vibrancy and colours used in the movie are breath-taking; it truly is a feast for the eyes. This is the reason I want to now see it on a huge screen because if it blows you away on a TV then it would awe-inspiring on a larger scale the cherry on the top would be seeing it in 3D too. I really need to express how impressed I was with the young actor Suraj Sharma who plays Pi Patel. He was a complete unknown and what that young man put himself through for this film deserves accolades. The special features on the Blu-ray has a fantastic documentary concerning the finding of the lead character and how he was prepared for this role. And also a documentary of how the special effects were made too. The film won 4 Oscars Best Director for Ang Lee, Best Cinematography, Best score and yes best effects. Would suggest you read the book by Yann Martel before watching the film because you understand some of the spirituality more in the book... but that is a more personal opinion, if seeing the film first, do read the book too, it also is a high caliber work of fiction and imagination, both together enriches each other. And maybe one day you too will be in a cinema watching this dream of a film on the big screen

A simply wonderful story about a boy who is stranded in a lifeboat with some animals after a ship carrying his father's zoo animals sinks in the pacific ocean near the Mariana's trench. It appears that this whole story is a metaphor for what happened to some human survivors told from the perspective of the boy as he sees them in animal form. You never really know which is actually the case. But the story is beautiful. The boy is surprised when, after falling from the ship as it is going down, he climbs onto a lifeboat which is occupied by a zebra, a Bengal tiger, a hyena and later an orangutan. The story is told by the survivor, now a married man living in Canada. He tells of his background life as a member of an Indian family in India and how they started a zoo. He also tells the amusing story of how he got his nickname, Pi. This leads into how and why his family left India to pursue better prospects in Canada. His experience with living with the tiger on the lifeboat is absolutely fascinating and the computer imaging used is really superb with only a couple of times where it can be noticed that you are not dealing with a real tiger. The story is captivating and engrossing as well as photographically beautiful, one image that is not easily forgotten is a whale shark as it swims underneath the boat, or the whale hunting krill or the beautiful reflection of the sky in the calm ocean. A wonderful film.

Great story and the hdr was on point

Beautiful colour and reproduction

I am not a film reviewer, and that has been done very well by other reviewers here. I just wanted to put in a vote with my five stars. I loved, loved, loved the novel, and amazingly, did not realize that other readers believed in the "other" version of Pi's story! What does that say about me, I wonder... At any rate, the film was wonderful, and the actor who played the young Pi was absolutely excellent. The adult Pi was very good as well. I had no intention of watching the film, as I usually don't when I have read the book, but ended up doing so, and I am so glad I did. I wish we had more "other world" films like this in mainstream American movies. Five stars absolutely, for an outstanding film!

Una especie de 2x1, aunque en mi caso, y de momento el BLu-Ray sobraba. ¿En cuanto a la película? Espectacular, cuento cinematográfico tan bien filmado como grabado y narrado. Interpretación que te ayuda siempre a creer en la historia que se nos relata,y eso sí, un mensaje ambiguo en cuanto a la doble cara de la moneda con respecto a la creencia en/de la divinidad. Recuerda mucho el planteamiento final del guión a los Pensamientos de Pascal y su célebre apuesta al respecto. Por cierto que esta misma mañana mientras veía la proyección con mis alumnos de 4º Eso, hipnotizados por momentos, se me ha venido a la cabeza la imagen de Sabu y sus aventuras, ya en la selva ya en Bagdad, al ver en la pantalla a Pi el náufrago coprotagonista del film... Por cierto que yo le daría un óscar al atigrado Mr. Parker.

3D provided stunning scenery. A whole new way to view this movie. It was delivered in just a few days after ordering. Impressed.