Life of Pi

I would like to first state that I never read the book Life of Pi so that this review is clearly from a movie viewer's standpoint. I will not be making any comparisons to the book because I don't think that is a completely fair comparison because written literature and visual cinema are two very different mediums that are trying to achieve very different things. Everyone has their own interpretation, and just because the film's director interpreted the book differently than you did, doesn't mean you can immediately bash the film.

okay, moving on.

I thought this was a rather interesting story. When people were talking about it, I kept hearing about a tiger in a boat, a zebra and a kid in a boat. I was rather confused as to what sort of story that would produce, but I was genuinely curious about how the zebra, the tiger, and the boy ended up in this boat. That being said, I went into this movie not knowing a lot about it, having not read the book or watched many trailers.

I found the actor who played the adult Pi very intriguing. He didn't seem fake or false. It wasn't an actor in a role, it was a person who had actually lived through that. That is exactly the type of quality you aim for in a actor, especially a screen actor, who i feel can slide by much more easily on looks or humor or a well written script then actual talent. He was very genuine.

I responded positively to the scenes where adult Pi was talking to the young writer. When Pi told him about his childhood, how he got the nickname, etc. It was refreshing to see his reactions to his memories alongside what actually happened. I also love that young Pi tried so many different religions. As a non religious person, I really respect someone who is willing to try them all. I find so many people are so set in what they were taught from a young age that they don't try and question what is around them. but that's an opinion for a different type of blog. I liked that he was open to try them all. end of comment.

I loved the ambiguity at the end when Pi is talking to the reporters about what happened, how he managed to stay alive. Do you think the story about the tiger was the true story? or was it the one with the butcher and the other humans? (I truly believe he did live in a rowboat with a tiger.)

I did however have issues with this film too.
I thought they spent way too much time in the boat. I understand he was a cast away for hundreds of days, and that makes sense, but after about 45 minutes of very similar actions: hunting for fish, building the raft out of on-hand materials, not getting eaten by the tiger, not starving, etc. after a while it seemed rather repetitive. I was sorta hoping that they would fade to black and do a "1 month later" placard or something of the sort. It got a little bit boring to be blunt. Once it was just him and the tiger it was dull. There was no hyena or zebra to fight with or eat.

I also do not understand the island with the strange meercats and the water that turns acidic at night. I don't know if in the book that is supposed to be Pi losing his mind or whether this was a real island, but I feel like it made no sense with the rest of the story. I felt like that part in particular felt out of place. Like Pi accidentally wandered into the wrong story. I would also like to point out that meercats wouldn't all stand out like that. Meercats live in tunnels underground to hide from predators and a few meercats will stand like that to keep watch. I guess if it's a fantasy island though, they probably don't have any natural predators. I also don't know if meercats climb trees, though I don't think that would have made any difference to the film.

One last issue, I wish there would have been some follow through with the family. One minute they were there, and the next they were all dead and drowned. I know in real life, it really can happen that quickly. In the blink of an eye, everyone is gone. but for the film's sake, It would have put my mind at ease to have seen a body floating, or a memorabilia or something. It took me a while to realize that they weren't coming back. Which distracted me from what was currently happening with the tiger.


While this film delved into some interesting topics of spirituality, and friendship, and living life to the fullest, overall It wasn't the best movie I could have ever seen. I'm glad I didn't spend the $10 to go see it in theatres. I give it a B- at best.