Life of Pi

When this film came out, I felt the most accurate descriptor of it was "Castaway but with a tiger." I've since changed my mind. It's really more like Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner but with a tiger. Hailed as a visual masterpiece, the effects actually range from incredibly believable to 'Chronicles of Narnia' in terms of how real the animals look. Much like the book it was based on, the film's one biggest flaw stems from having too much sitting around on a boat in between the awe-inspiring bits.

The story follows a boy called 'Pi' and his exciting journey across the Pacific ocean. When Pi's father, who owns a zoo, decides to pack the family and the animals up to move to Canada, things go horribly awry when their ship sinks and only Pi and a small handful of animals escape on a life raft. Little by little, the animals fight to the death on the cramped boat, leaving only Pi alive... and a bengal tiger.

The animals, including the tiger, were all rendered in CGI in lieu of actually putting animal actors through the trouble. These animals on the boat, where we're forced to focus on them, are all so well rendered that it's nearly impossible to tell them apart from the real deal (except when Pi touches one, bit of a disconnect but it only happens in one scene so whatever) Animals in background scenes earlier in the film are more cartoony but for the most part the effects look real and pull off realistic emotions and actions.

The story is emotional and got me to tear up a few times, but the film is true to the book, and the book had a fatal flaw. 'Doldrums' are a phrase used to mean the areas of the sea that are so calm and windless that boats sail through them very, very slowly, and make a journey long and unbearable. Doldrums are what the book and film both have in abundance. There's so much time spent sitting around on a raft I almost wanted to take up scrimshaw just to get the movie to go faster. These doldrums are broken up by the scenes spent at night, where Pi wonders at all the pretty stars and all the bio luminescent fish in the ocean. Apparently everything in the ocean glows in the dark at night. Including whales and stomach acid for some reason. I get why the art department thinks living things that glow are cool (they are) but it's possible to over do it.

While it's no Castaway that'll get you weeping over the loss of a volleyball, it may get you to gasp at the sight of a tiger, or sympathize with a wheedly little vegetarian boy having to brutally kill a fish with a hammer to get enough to eat, or with a computerized tiger with sea sickness. And really, isn't that just as fun?