Life of Pi (2012) Irrfan Khan, Suraj Sharma, Rafe Spall, Gérard Depardieu Movie Review

Life of Pi (2012)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Life of Pi (2012)

A Slice of Pi

Having been named after a swimming pool and dealt with playground bullying from a young age because of his name young Pi Patel ends up stranded on a lifeboat following a life changing shipwreck. But Pi is not the only one on the lifeboat as a ferocious Bengal tiger known as Richard Parker is on there as well and they find themselves on an epic journey together in need of each other's existence to survive.

Should a story be a vehicle for a visual movie or should the visuals tell the story? I am old school as I believe that the most important aspect of a movie should be the story and everything else should be there to tell that story. It is for that reason why Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" didn't impress me like it has others, oh it has a storyline but Pi's time surviving on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger by the name of Richard Parker was not riveting enough to captivate me. Even the humorous opening scenes which feature Irrfan Khan and Rafe Spall discussing Pi's story and his religious tendencies do not do enough to draw me to the adventure which is to follow.

But I imagine those who are happy to watch a highly visual movie love "Life of Pi" as it is one of the most astonishingly visual movies I have ever seen. The craft which has gone in to this movie from scenes of Pi interacting with the tiger to those of the lifeboat in a storm are spectacular. I could go on and on about the visuals as they are simply astonishing and when you combine them with the mellow soundtrack there is a real beauty to this movie. But for me I needed that storyline to really grip me and Pi's slice of life didn't come close to doing that for me.

What this all boils down to is that "Life of Pi" is undoubtedly a visually stunning creation something which I have never seen before in my lifetime yet I am sure with the way technology dominates cinema is likely to be surpassed. But for those like me who need more than spectacular visuals may find this lacking in story depth.


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