Stars Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Ayush Tandon, Adil Hussain, Tabu with Rafe Spall and Gérard Depardieu Directed by Ang Lee So Ang Lee tackle the impossible by adapting a book that's supposedly unadaptable. When most of the story is of Pi on the water with a Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker for company in a lifeboat (It's the cover of the book and most of the poster designs, it's not a spoiler). Movies that take place on the water are notoriously difficult to shoot, never mind having to work with animals too. Just look to James Cameron about the production of Titanic, or Steven Spielberg on Jaws. I've never read the book despite that cover constantly calling out to me, so let's instead look at the movie as a movie. As the title says, it's about a young man named Pi (Suraj Sharma) and the movie covers most of his life as he relates it to a writer (Rafe Spall) who is having writer's block and is in search of a story. While Pi does relate portions of his childhood, a majority of it is focussed on his over 200 days at sea with the Bengal Tiger for company (a combination of real live tigers and some amazing as expected work from Rhythm and Hues). Ang Lee's direction feels rather staged for most of the movie but there is no denying the visual aesthetics that he applied to bring the story to life, and this does include the decision to film in 3D. The opening titles play over what might appear to be some wildlife preserve with animals flitting about the screen, and this makes the 3D fairly obvious as a window into the world, not so much of the eye-poking variety. Although, that being said, there was one sequence in particular where I did notice the framing shift to allow the flying fish to appear to extrude from the screen by crossing the framing. (A similar effect was employed in Dredd 3D to allow blood to splatter off the screen.) Problem is, the sequence is a flurry of activity, and while impressive in 3D, it's also easy to miss most of the effects going on there. Still, the 3D is used in impressive ways to enhance the depth of the picture and impresses quite often. The cinematography by Claudio Miranda (who did Tron Legacy as well) is beautiful and typically colourful with some truly gorgeous production designs and ideas filling the screen. Accompanied by Mychael Danna's music and there's a sense of wonderment that permeates throughout the movie. The movie runs just over two hours and despite how the story plays out, the pacing is nicely edited so that you don't feel the length. The performance by Suraj Sharma is extremely engaging since he does have to carry a majority of the movie himself. Coupled with the narration by the dulcet tones of Irrfan Khan as the older Pi, it's easy to get absorbed into the story, and the movie, itself. What you take from the movie, ultimately, is what you're willing to put in or how much you might give in to the movie. I can think of a few people who might find it boring, but I might be wrong about them. After all, even as the movie puts it, everything comes down to perception.
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