Life of Pi, based on a Booker prize-winning book by the same name, is a film which exploits 3D well especially the vast ocean & the skies. The main theme is basically about a boy stuck in the sea with a tiger for company & how he handles the journey.
The main character is played by a Suraj Sharma , a new comer who has done a good job, with a name Piscine which is shortened to Pi in order to save himself from embarrassing pronunciation by others. When the family decides to move to Canada, they pack up their belongings, which include animals from their private zoo, but get caught in a storm. Only Pi and a tiger survive till the end & the story thereon is the main essence of the film which is narrated in flashback by the older Pi (Irfan Khan).
There are lots of spiritual connections enmeshed in the film – as a young Pi who thinks of God on the boat caught by storm, reference to Vishnu the 1st time Pi kills a fish to feed the tiger (else he fears he will become the meal instead), questions about what it means to be a Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Buddhism, etc., as an older Pi who feels that that the entire journey was God’s message to him to let go of things. The film also leaves a question to the viewers at the end when, in connection with an insurance claim, Irfan mentioned that the surveyors found the true story unacceptable till he replaced the animals with humans. The most impressive part of the film has been the tiger created through computer effects. The film shows progressively how Pi first is petrified by the tiger, then tries to survive by creating his own space outside the boat, then begins to tame the tiger in order to ensure a mutual long term survival, & finally both of them learn to accept each other with mutual respect. The photography is breath taking & can’t be described in text & can only be felt some examples being the nighttime scene in which the ocean is lit up by colorful fish & the sequence of flying fish. The change in the physical look of Pi with time was shown very well – starting with light natural color& finally ending as a charcoal color.
The only sore point with the film is the lack of emotional connects. This film could have ended up as a masterpiece to be remembered forever but this lack of emotions at the cost of specific focus on graphics & photography means that this will end up as a film worth watching but not treasuring forever.