Movies.ie

• Critic rating
• Currently 4/5 Stars.

Movies.ie Critic Review

LIFE OF PI (USA/China/PG/127mins)
Directed by Ang Lee. Starring Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall, Gerard Depardieu, Ayush Tandon, Gautam Belur, Adil Hussain, Tabu.
THE PLOT: As he prepares lunch, the humble Pi Patel (Khan) begins to tell his remarkable life story to his guest (Spall), the latter planning to turn his host’s adventures into a book. And the story is truly remarkable, charting Pi’s early life in India, where his parents ran a zoo whilst the young Hindu pre-teen (Tandon) conducted a theological exploration through other religions.
When the economic climate forces the family to emigrate to Canada, a hard rain capsizes their ship and soon Pi is floating on the Pacific in a lifeboat. With just a zebra, an orangutan and a nasty hyena for company. Or, at least, that’s what he thought. The Bengal tiger younger Pi had tried to befriend is hiding under the tarp, and over the following 227 days, the two lone survivors gradually work out a survival plan…
THE VERDICT: It may be a tad, well, preachy at times, but Life Of Pi is a stunning technical achievement - and one of those rare films that actually benefits from 3D). Undoubtedly, Ang Lee’s luscious big-screen adaptation will no doubt satisfy lovers of Yann Martel’s multi-award-winning 2001 novel.
Playing like a religious fable - a twist on Noah’s Ark here, 40 days and 40 nights in the desert there – Life Of Pi informs us that, given just how surprising life can be, we gotta have faith. And some emergency supplies.
Of course, it helps when your spiritual journey boasts some of the finest CGI known to man and Hollywood, allowing you to bask in a David Attenborough wet dream of a film. Where else are you going to witness a night ocean of glowing jellyfish, a tidal wave of flying fish, a million meerkats standing to attention…? And all in such vibrant colours - think David Chapelle meets National Geographic. 

RATING: 4/5
Review by Paul Byrne 

• Avg User rating
• Currently 4/5 Stars.

User Reviews

• • Currently 5/5 Stars.

  JDX

  

  loved every second of the film!! It is was quickly forgotten that the animals and scenery are CGI! Defo a feel good film!! truely one to watch :)

• • Currently 2/5 Stars.

  TheAngelicDiablo

  

  Ang Lee's Life of Pi is a beautiful recognised grouping of set pieces married by one of the one dimensional main characters in modern cinema. It maybe one of the best uses of 3D technology since Avatar, one of the most unique cinematic experiences of modern cinema and the closest we'll ever come to a live action version of Fastasia, but that doesn't necessarily make it worth your time as a movie.

• • Currently 2/5 Stars.

  Randy

  

  Surely the visuals are stunning especially the CGI. However, the story lacks conviction. The film is just like the book, and while the ending worked for the book, I just felt disappointment at the end of the movie. Also, at every step of the journey, when you're s taken in with the tiger and the scenes, one of the characters keeps saying how important this or that is, mentions God and says their lines with such certainty as if their life depended on it.

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  vu1999uk

  

  Really good adventure that has possibly the best use of 3d in a film since it came back into vogue. Has some wonderful jumps and scares for a PG film (tigers are scary) and it never drags despite the fact that only one actor is present for a lot of the film. I initiallt disliked the ending, but on reflection it's actually a thought provoking one. All round great film.

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  tetsujin1979

  

  one minor (and understandable) omission aside, this is as faithful an interpretation of the book as you could expect to see. The visuals dazzle early on, but fade to reflect the bleak expanse of the ocean, as it surrounds the two main characters All at once an examination of faith, of human perserverance and an example of what can be achieved using modern technology that was unthinkable less than a decade ago. Do not wait for the home edition, see it on the big screen.

• • Currently 5/5 Stars.

  jony_dols

  

  Life of Pi only really sunk in when I went to see The Hobbit tonight & Pi's trailer came on before the film; I genuinely nearly welled up at the thought of never being able to experience LoP for the first time again, it's that incredible. The only flaw I could nitpick from it (and I had to look pretty hard); was it's simplistic narrative which in-turn is probably the film's greatest strength, so hardly a negative! Ang Lee has created a film that pretty much encapsulates everything that is right about film & has provided me with the single greatest cinematic experience I've ever had. Kudos Lee. (Also the 3D visuals are the best you're likely to ever see & are pretty much one massive middle finger to the nay-sayers of the technology)

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  lisa__kelly

  

  Finally a movie that justifies the use of 3D! Life of Pi is visually stunning. Do not wait for this to come out on DVD, you have to see this on the large screen to truly appreciate its beauty.

• • Currently 5/5 Stars.

  filmbuff2011

  

  With the year almost out, it seems that there aren't many cinematic surprises left... until you experience Life Of Pi in all its wondrous glory. Ang Lee's new film is very much a spiritual story that keeps in sync with his own humanistic view of the world. Based on the long-thought-unfilmable book by Yann Martel, it's a story unlike any other this year - or any year for that matter. Pi (Suraj Sharma) is an idealistic young man who lives with his family in French colonial India. The family business is a zoo, but it falls on hard times so Pi's family decide to start a new life in Canada. However, the ship sinks in stormy waters, Pi loses his whole family and is left adrift on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean. His only company is a fearsome tiger with his own particular personality. Together they must form an uneasy alliance to stay alive... What sounds like a really kooky plot is actually quite charming and moving. Lee conjures up some truly startling and memorable imagery - jellyfish lighting up the ocean and a leaping whale for example. All of this rendered in gracefully used 3D. Newcomer Sharma carries most of the film on his young shoulders and he succeeds admirably. It's not easy to find a film that is truly unique in every sense, but Life Of Pi is one of those films. Hard to fault, beautiful to look at, soulful and skillfully directed, Life Of Pi is simply unmissable. Outstanding.

• • Currently 5/5 Stars.

  roberthughes23

  

  This is one of my favourite books and when I saw it was being made into a movie I was excited but also uncertain that it could live up to all the expectations. But Ang Lee did just that. This movie is a piece of art. From start to finish it is an amazing story and full of adventure. I am never a huge fan of 3d as it rarely ads to a movie in my opinion, but the visuals in this are fantastic. Do not miss this one in the cinema and make sure it's in 3d!