REVIEW: Life of Pi

Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Despite several attempts to read Life of Pi, Yann Martel’s beloved novel about a young man stranded at sea with a hungry tiger, I was never able to finish it. I admired the story, but I couldn’t get past the ham-handed metaphors the author seemed to believe were pearls of wisdom. When I heard that Ang Lee was directing the inevitable film version, my hopes rose a bit. Surely the director of Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon could take Martel’s intriguing-but-meandering narrative and concentrate on its most powerful aspects.

Mission mostly accomplished. For 115 minutes, I was captivated by Martel’s story (adapted by screenwriter David Magee) and mesmerized by Lee’s visually dazzling interpretation. It’s up there with Avatar and Hugo in terms of the masterful use of 3D. Unfortunately, there were still 10 minutes left. It’s the third time this year I’ve seen a film fail horribly in terms of sticking the landing. I can’t talk about why without getting into spoiler territory; I’ll just say it’s a bait-and-switch similar to what Savages and Breaking Dawn – Part 2 tried to pull, only much more irritating.

The story opens with a writer (Rafe Spall) interviewing the quiet and clever Pi Patel (a masterful Irrfan Khan), who has a story will “make him believe in God” – or so the writer has been told. That’s a pretty bold statement, one that is ultimately undercut by the film’s closing moments.

Pi tells the writer that he grew up as a zookeeper’s son (played mostly by the terrific Suraj Sharma in flashbacks) in Pondicherry, India. However, economic troubles force the family to pack up their animals and board a freighter headed for Canada. During their journey, a massive storm causes the vessel to sink in the middle of the Pacific. It’s a spectacular sequence in a film with packed with them.

The sole human survivor, Pi finds himself sharing a 26-foot lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. As nature takes its course, soon it’s just Pi and Richard Parker in the boat. With land nowhere in sight, human and beast must learn to coexist if they have any hope for long-term survival.

Despite the giant letdown of an ending, Life of Pi is still worth the 3D ticket price because of the amazing visuals – the CGI animals are some of the most realistic I’ve seen on film – and great performances. Lee significantly elevates the source material, but his film unfortunately shares the same major problems as Martel’s novel. The lofty ideas put forth and the story’s big moral, which Lee and Magee practically shove down the viewer’s throat, are not nearly as profound as everyone apparently thinks they are.

Life of Pi is rated PG for emotional thematic content throughout, and some scary action sequences and peril.

Grade: B