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.

What more can you say about a film that has won oscars for direction, as well as its ground-breaking effects and is based on an award-winning book that has sold millions? Well now we can see this as many times as we like, at our leisure in the 3D version that Ang Lee intended and designed. This 2-disc 3D version of the Blu Ray, has several extras and in the impressive "making of" documentary, it is explained how they designed everything for 3D presentation and did all the editing in 3D - which is quite unusual - but it certainly deserves to be seen in this medium. Ang Lee has created a true work of art - an incredible visual feast, which makes the most of all the resources used in its long 4-year production time. You can of course, watch this in 2D and still be impressed by the beauty of the images - but 3D adds to the immersive feel of truly being there and allows you to suspend your disbelief - which is what this is all about of course. The "extras" detail the huge amount of work that went into the creation of the live action and then the digital post-production which went into CGI that possibly for the first time, seems genuinely to have us believing in it. We do believe that a bengal tiger is in the boat and we do feel the huge presence of the Pacific depths. The unusual thing about the extras is that some are actually presented in 3D as well - usually it is only the feature that gets this treatment. But here Ang Lee is keen to show us how the CGI was matched seamlessly to the live action, to create a world of magical realism. All of the technical achievements detailed in the various extras wouldn't matter much though, if this was not a good film and it was just a shallow attention-grabber. But this is a truly wonderful and unusual story - looking at the philosophy of religion and the meaning of faith. Inspired by the beauty and spirituality of parts of India - where ancient temples are populated by spectacular wild life. Every moment and every phrase has a meaning - whether allegorical or literal. We have Pi's life before and after, which is dedicated to religion - all religion - whether Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Jewish or Islam. But at the centre of the book and film, is the experience which created "Faith" - Yann Martell has said in interviews that his book is about faith and the film with its super-realism, allows us to examine this experience and how it leads Pi to believe in God. The film is of course much shorter and less-detailed than the book - but it has all the essential elements distilled into a few hours of intense experience. Having this on Blu Ray allows you to replay and re-examine the elements of allegory and how they are interwoven into the story - what does the Tiger represent - what of the Meerkat island and its impossible, perfectly circular lakes - what do they mean? What does the flower with a human tooth represent? This is a film that stands up to re-examination and can even just be viewed as something of a 3D painting - maybe a 3D Turner - in its images of the sea and sky. Coming to faith is a personal experience or journey for every person and this is just one perspective, one story and is nothing to do with organised religion - just one person's story. Many critics have seen this as the film of the year and this is certainly worth owning in this spectacularly good Blu Ray transfer, with all the extras that add to your understanding of the film and what went into its creation. Possibly the best example of 3D film-making yet - highly recommended

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 movie - I watched as homework- to see the show

It’s hard to know what to write when there are nearly 1,000 reviews to look at? I can only say that the visuals are the best that I have ever seen at the flicks? It was even better that the main subject was that wonderfully stunning Bengal Tiger! How I was hoping he’d get a square meal, as he got thinner and thinner, – a sure sign that I was suckered right in, big time. How good were the other animal visuals, – the hyena? I’m glad that he bought it from old stripey, I never did like those nasty little gits! What about that poor zebra, and those adorable meerkats? Those scenes of the ocean in ‘storm’ were just awesome. I was so glad that I wasn’t out there on a pedalo, on my Jack Jones... and what if I’d have forgotten my arm bands as well .. Jesus! Let's not for get the flying fish, ( the tiger should have been given a large bucket), the dolphins and that stunning whale shot. The ‘overview’ storyline wasn’t much if truth be told but hell, the fantasy was just great. I don’t want to complicate the film with conspiracy theories and intellectual opinions, as to what it all meant, some people think too much! I just enjoyed the God damn visual effects for what they were? It’s so easy to get lost in this ‘computer graphics’ world isn’t it, but we all know the truth and there's no fooling me. Having said that, old Parker is some actor I have to say, and if he doesn’t get 'best in the zoo,' at the feline Oscars, then there’s no justice in this animal kingdom … and let’s not forget he had to lay off the Kitikat and go to the gym to lose that much weight for the second half of the film, and boy, could he swim and grip that boat? Fair play Parker! This was a classic of its time and a great film in this modern era.

It's been edited and cut so much by the self important BFI the ending makes no sense talking about things which didn't happen because they've been cut out and I can remember the proper version of the film , yes it was sort of gruesome but necessary for the story line.

Excellent story in this film. We\nLl's spoken story definite watch on the big screen. You will love it

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.