LIFE OF PI   4.0***

 

 

         You will see no more imaginative and thought provoking than Life of Pi. It is primarily the thrilling story of a young Indian teenager boy name Pi who is stranded alone on a 26 foot lifeboat with a 450 lb. man eating Bengal tiger (actually it’ll eat anything ) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. How he gets there and what happens is for you to see and enjoy for yourself.  While Pi and the Bengal  tiger are sharing the boat that does not mean they get along, not at all. The film makes it vividly clear  that while they are stranded together, Pi is a human boy and the a Bengal tiger is a carnivore with a huge appetite The beauty of this scenario is that it never mistakes that the only common traits between these two  is that they are stranded together and both are mammals. The acts of sheer courage and  ingenuity Pi is called upon to use to keep him and the tiger alive are amazing … more like astounding.   

 

Ang Lee ( “Brokeback Mountain” and “Crouching Tiger” ) directs the film  with absolute grace and expertise and along the way employs 3D as perfectly as I have seen . Among the many spectacular elements of this film is  the magnificent CGI (computer generated images). The Bengal tiger is perhaps the best animated animal ever created ! The angry green eyes, richly textured orange & white striped skin and every hair on its fur look rich and full of life and is accentuated  by the 3D.And then when your hear the thunderous roar for the first time, you  realize this is as real as it can get! The rest of the animals ( the film’s opening is at a zoo in India) look great too. The lovely blue ocean and its resident creatures are the jewel in the crown.  

 

There are many scenes of such wonderful amazement that words fall short of describing it… you really have to experience them for yourself. Right from the beginning credits to the poignant scene where Pi is in the  lifeboat  and watches the mammoth ship sink underwater,then the heart-pounding introduction of the Bengal tiger on the lifeboat, the surreal dream sequence of Pi, the many sunsets and nights at sea, the mesmerizing scene with the jellyfish and blue whale and just so many other scenes that each one can be paused and made into a collection of brilliantly picturesque wallpapers. Such brilliant cinematic quality is very rare and it needs to be experienced on the hugest screen possible and in 3D. It's why we go to the movies.   

Thanks to, Ang Lee, this is a movie  that lets you enjoy it on so many levels. If you are just looking for a beautiful 3D movie to feast your eyes on, this is it . If you are in a mood for a thrilling, spine tingling adventure epic this is it.  If indeed, you want to experience something very thought provoking, Life of Pi never forces on you  a particular thought, instead it whispers ever so slightly to think about matters of human and animal natures  while caressing your senses at times and then rocking them at other times  with fabulous visuals and remarkable action sequences.

Life of Pi, is a rare masterpiece that stands as a prototype not only for a perfect book adaptation and a 3D movie( sorry Avatar, you have just been replaced), but also for a movie based on the intricacies of human nature This is an impressive triumph of a film.

Clark

Rating: 4.0*** out of 4