Monday, December 3, 2012

Life of Pi- Movie Review


It is difficult to change a mind which has a block on it. Especially one that is as stubborn as mine. And when I left my house to see Life of Pi which I had just learnt we were to be watching in 3D, my mind block became even stronger. However, two hours and eighteen minutes later gone was the block, any negative feelings I had towards putting those dirty glasses on my bridge of  my nose and watching a movie about the path of spirituality and believing in God. They had vanished. They had been replaced by the vivid imagery of green phosphorescence lighting up the sae, a whale leaping out of that glowing paradise, a horde of meerkats twittering away on the screen and an elegant Royal Bengal Tiger stealing the show away.
From the second it started to the minute the credits started to roll, I was held by the spell the movie cast. Mind-blown would probably describe the situation best. A simple story, told in the form of narration through an older version of the main character to a young writer, it describes the journey of an adolescent boy cast away at sea who is the sole survivor of a shipwreck that kills the rest of his family and their zoo animals and leaves him on a wooden life boat with a ferocious tiger for company.
The movie tackles different themes of human emotions, the growing relationship between a beast and a man, the broken faith of man in God, and the strength and mindfulness exhibited by the human race in times of trouble.
However the most defining trait of this movie is the level of special effects that have been used. With every scene given the utmost importance with not a pixel out of place, Life of Pi is only comparable to James Cameron’s Avatar, a worldwide box office hit that defined the start of a new era of impeccably evolved CGI. From the sinking of the freighter, to the clouds thundering above and waves lashing against the sides of the boat, there is nothing that makes you realize at any given point of time that you are not a part of the movie. You are meant to be there, experiencing the pain of loss with Pi, the anger with Richard Parker, the name of the tiger (given due to a clerical error) and the disbelief with the writer.
Based on the book written by Yann Martel of the same name, something that everyone thought was impossible to convert into a movie, not only has Life of Pi done justice to it, but it has surpassed every expectation anyone could ever have possessed. It can be described as nothing less than magic. Magic has the power to make people believe in the impossible and Life of Pi made me believe.
Hats off to you Ang Lee, you really have outdone yourself. 

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