Life Of Pi Review

Our verdict on 2012's final big movie...
Adapting Yann Martel's children's fantasy novel Life Of Pi into a fully-fledged motion picture couldn't have been an easy task for director Ang Lee. That said, what Lee has done here is transform a mildly compelling tale first spun eleven years ago, into a beautiful visionary piece of filmic art that boasts a thoroughly engaging narrative. Where once the storyline of the book itself only compelled those readers who empathised with protagonist Piscene enough to read on, here it's brought across in a fascinating way that won't lose the interest of viewers at any point in the two-hour running time.

Make no mistake, Pi's appeal is in no small way indebted to the genius direction of Ang Lee and indeed the visual effects production team who worked to make it a stunner. It has to be said that for me, this is the best-looking film since Avatar released in 2009, performing beautifully in terms of its documentary-realistic encapsulations of real-world animals through either motion filming or cunning CGI effects work post-production. Regardless of just how such a visionary feat was accomplished- something which I'm sure warrants its own documentary or reference book soon to depict the process- the overall effects throughout the movie are simply ground-breaking, a genuine step forward for this industry of entertainment that sets a precedent for each and every effects-driven piece of cinema to come. An additional note on this front: see this one in 3D. I probably haven't advised you as such since Avatar, but that's simply because not until now has the technology been put to so dramatically innovative use in a motion picture, to the point that seeing Pi in another dimension warrants the extra couple of quid you'll fork out.

I mentioned the concept of this kind of cinema being effects-driven, yet by no means am I attempting to discredit the core structure of the movie's narrative. Life Of Pi does admittedly have one or two sagging moments that feel as if they perhaps stretch out the running time slightly further than necessary (105-115 minutes as opposed to 125 would just about have done it), and the ending leaves a little to be desired with a touch of pseudo-ambiguity, yet these weaknesses are likely paralleled in the novel and thus hardly really of any true fault to the flick. The message to get across here is that thanks to a career-defining performance from newcomer Suraj Sharma, we're truly able to emphasise with Pi in ways that previously seemed impossible in the limited novel version. Sharma rightly has to do a lot of the legwork with his character stranded on a marooned boat with a Bengal Tiger, however this seems no problem at all for the actor, and if anything such a prolonged opportunity merely allows him time to shine. While somewhat disjointed in terms of their placement in the plot, the 'modern day' sections featuring an elder Pi and a budding author are neat interludes too.

As I mentioned, the film isn't absolutely perfect. There are a minor handful of instances where Lee appears to get so immersed in the beauty and wonder of the world he's depicting, that plot direction seems to be lost for a moment as a result. I'm all for this kind of immersion at perhaps one or two intervals in any motion picture, yet when I would wager that such contemplative shots entailed around 1/10th of the film's running time, things don't necessarily feel quite as they should. Do not let that stop you from seeing this, though. Life Of Pi is a stunning showcase of the leaps and bounds the teams behind the cameras have made with technology in the past decade, the Avatar of 2012 that branches out from James Cameron's epic with a successful narrative to boot. If you catch one film that isn't The Hobbit before the end of this year, make it this, because believe me, your life may just well seem that little more deepened for it.
4.5/5