Life of Pi

Two stars are quite a decent result for a film that I didn't enjoy at all. Ang Lee approached the laws of physics his way, relied on CGI and made a film about high moral values, with no chance of appealing to me (a shallow individual). The film is technically distinguished, but its story left me cold. (06/01/2020)

Similar to What Dreams May Come, visually captivating, technically precise, and an essentially empty film outlining religion, family cohesion, and survival adventure. But it’s so tedious that even though the form is self-indulgently mesmerizing, it’s not entertaining. Ang Lee leaned too heavily into the camera and and the visual effects at the expense of everything else, and there’s no originality, let alone this being the film of the year. (08/14/2015)

It’s way too digital. The constant special effects annoyed and disturbed me all the time except for the perfect tiger, as did the camera, and the story seemed to me to just be ordinary. I couldn't worry about the main character during his journey (why should I, when we see him older, whole, alive and healthy at the beginning, right?)... I can't deny the visual impact of the scenes with the sky reflecting in the endless water surface, and I quite liked the interlude with the school of flying fish, but why did everything have to be so kitschy neon and digi-hallucinogenic? Moreover, the music (yes, the Oscar-winning one) is completely bland. Two stars would be too many. (03/09/2013)

Colours, animals and gods in a pleasant adventure, and a twist that can be considered nice or nasty, depending on your nature. I reckon the book version was sharper and Ang Lee probably blunted the edges, but it doesn’t matter. Great filmmaking that the ending prevents from being a mere naive religious tale. Thumbs up. (01/06/2013)

When I left the cinema I thought I was probably expecting something deeper and more intense, but then I realised that I was actually expecting something like a beautifully colourful and bitter fairy tale with lots of digital animals, which I actually got. The beginning was kind of slow (maybe it could have been a little shorter), but the boat ride, the shipwreck and the fight for survival were absolutely amazing. Many of the scenes looked magical and were a feast for the eyes, for example the sunset or the night at sea. All the digital animals looked incredibly realistic (the tiger, the meerkats, ...), so kudos to the VFX artists. As for the main character, you have to take into account that this was the actor's debut and therefore you have to forgive him something, but in the end there wasn't much. In short, a colourful adventure of one boy that gives room to some interesting religious digressions. (12/25/2012)