The tiger in the film is animated, but its interactions with protagonist Pi make up the bulk of the movie, ranging from bonding moments to struggles for survival.
Describing Ang Lee’s (Taking Woodstock) magnificent adaptation of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi in understandable terms poses a significant challenge.
It’s Cast Away, but with a tiger instead of Wilson, and on a boat. It’s Lord of the Flies with the demonic choir boys replaced by a tiger and on a boat.
To be more specific, Life of Pi is about Pi (newcomer Suraj Sharma), the sole human survivor of a shipwreck, drifting in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. Hijinks ensue, though less like Calvin and Hobbes and more like something out of a Theology 101 lecture.
The premise sounds goofy, yet Lee’s film, much like Martel’s book, is more concerned with the spiritual and allegorical journey of its lead characters than indulging in any boy-and-his-dog escapades.
While there are several moments of heartwarming bonding between the tiger and the boy, the majority of the film proceeds as a grim, Technicolor struggle for survival. Pi and the tiger are nearly constantly at peril, whether it be from the stormy sea, the lack of drinkable water or each other when food has been scarce.
The aforementioned religious theme is driven home by a somewhat clunky framing device, in which a significantly older Pi (played here by Irrfan Khan, The Amazing Spider-Man) recounts his adventures to a writer (Rafe Spall, Prometheus). Through some voice over and a couple brilliant fade transitions, Pi’s story becomes something of an epic, spiritual coming-of-age saga.
Pi’s journey with the tiger is entertaining enough in its own right, but when coupled with powerful overtones and several genius filmmaking conceits, it approaches the pantheon of the cinematic greats.
Perhaps most crucially, Lee and his team of technical wizards nail the relationship between the boy and the tiger. Sharma does a surprisingly good job acting with the entirely digital creation, while the Bengal tiger is easily the single most convincing feat of computer animation ever projected onto the big screen.
The whole movie, in fact, is packed with mind-blowing 3D visuals, from a giant, fluorescent sperm whale to an incredible hallucination sequence that functions both as summary and foreshadowing. The visual feast is infused with such meaning and poignancy that Life of Pi becomes overwhelming at points.
This is not a film for everyone, nor is it even a film for most audiences. Life of Pi is a singular, fearless feat whose blatant and subtle spirituality will turn off a lot of people and traumatize a lot of children (that PG rating is suspect).
Congratulations Lee, you’ve finally made a masterpiece.
