Life of Pi

Cast: Suraj Sharma, Irfan khan

Director: Ang Lee

Genre: Adventure,Fantasy,Drama

Clearly overhyped. Liking the movie is subjective to whether the audience wants to go by the hysteria created around it or goes to watch with an independent view.

Pluses:

• Suraj Sharma, undoubtedly a brilliant performance. He was very expressive, be it pleasure or despair, he doesnt overdo any. Was a pleasure watching him
• Brilliant cinematography and graphics. The tiger felt no less than a real animal. You cant even a speculate a single flaw in it. Its a fantasy delight to the eyes. But no where even close to Avatar or Titanic, the comparison to these legendary movies hurts me
• Irfan Khan, is a serious actor and a fab one. Less opportunity to perform in this flick, but his appearance was a treat to eyes specially for an Indian on an international platform :)
• The bonding between 'Pi' and the tiger 'Richard Parker' was beautifully shown, however it remained only one sided always.Alas!
• Adil Hussain and Tabu had merely any role to perform, but a mention to them is worth
• Script was written with quite a few detailing in mind which makes it a beautiful journey to watch, but it doesnt come totally clean without any flaw
• I am afraid, there is absolutely no more postivies to add in this section for the so called epic movie

Minuses:

• The director seemed somewhere indecisive whether to present it as a fantasy or a real adventure. If they meant to make it look like a fantasy, then why did the tiger not share an emotional bond with the boy. Why didnt Richard Parker turn back.So much for the togetherness. You win the hearts of the audience when you complete a fantasy movie with a happy ending. This one disappointed
• The conclusion of the flick is to narrate a story which will in turn establish faith in god. I didnt find even that being established in any sense. A very clear depiction of 'Pi's childhood shows that there has always been a debate between the parents on being rational and on being a blind folded believer in god and mythologies. And the adventure of 'Pi' led him to decipher the truth finally. On one side he says, the story makes you believe in god and on the other hand he says, his father was always right, without whom he could have never learnt so many truths of life. Not very clear if that was a selective belief or a wholesome thing
• Very slow depiction. Movie belonging to such plots can be expected to be slow, provided the audience can connect to the character. Feels his emotions, his pain. Alas! even after trying hard, couldnt connect to the boy
• Quite a lot of flaws here and there. They showed him gettin tanned, thinned, hair growing, but never any beard :P I disagree to believe he was underaged for that. :) Nor did he ever dehydrate or dry up. Agreed, they show him with the supply of drinking water, but the heat and the number of days he was stranded is enough to dehydrate anyone if not till death. Another flaw, missed showing on high contrasting temperature differences in ocean. Oceans usually have extreme chilly nights and equally hot days. He is all comfortable with one kurta or no kurta at all. Difficult for me to understand. Perhaps, his belief in god was keeping him warm :P
• The character of the novelist, to whom the story was narrated, was himself never scripted properly :P He being a writer, gotto be having a lot of patience. And when you see his capacity, you see him gettin impatient more than often, and wanting to fast forward the entire story to the point where he immediately starts believing in god, as if he was an atheist till now :D
• The open end towards what was shown about adult Pi's family lacked clarity as well. Those who read the book may tell, whether he ever went back to get his love and married his sweetheart or it was a complete new estlablishment alltogether
• And of course it was left to the people to infer, out of the two stories in the movie that he narrates, which one was true :) And after watching a true to believe fantasy story, you wont want to perplex your mind with another story, in fact you even loose patience to listen to his second narration after 2 hours of the duration already covered
• And finally, the 3D was not all that worth it

My rating: 3/5