Average Rating: 8/10
Reviews Counted: 203
Fresh: 180 | Rotten: 23
A 3D adaptation of a supposedly "unfilmable" book, Ang Lee's Life of Pi achieves the near impossible -- it's an astonishing technical achievement that's also emotionally rewarding.
Average Rating: 8.1/10
Critic Reviews: 42
Fresh: 37 | Rotten: 5
A 3D adaptation of a supposedly "unfilmable" book, Ang Lee's Life of Pi achieves the near impossible -- it's an astonishing technical achievement that's also emotionally rewarding.
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Director Ang Lee creates a groundbreaking movie event about a young man who survives a disaster at sea and is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with another survivor...a fearsome Bengal tiger. -- (C) Official Site
Nov 21, 2012 Wide
$76.2M
20th Century Fox
All Critics (203) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (180) | Rotten (23)
Mr. Lee's film is stronger as a visual experience-especially in 3-D-than an emotional one, but it has a final plot twist that may also change what you thought you knew about the ancient art of storytelling.
There's an audience out there for this movie, but the question is whether they will find it.
The movie's energy peters out in a series of book-club conversations about divine will, the power of storytelling, and the resilience of the human spirit.
A movie that can't be dismissed because there is too much in it but can't be embraced because it's all spread too thin.
This transcendent fable carries a real sting in its tail. Ang Lee has made a bold and wondrous movie, one of his best.
Claudio Miranda's luminous camera, set to Mychael Danna's intoxicating score, captures all manner of wild delights.
I haven't been able to shake the thought-provoking finale. Don't expect to leave this story behind as you exit the theatre. Life Of Pi has something to say.
The 227 days at sea are a test of physique, mental adaptation and faith, and Suraj Sharma makes Pi's spiritual journey as convincing as his nautical one.
The screenplay reaches out to people of all religions and faiths and gives you the confidence to make your own mind up about things.
Lee is a wizard, Life of Pi is an incredible spectacle and the technical effects are brilliant.
Working with perceptive writer David Magee (Finding Neverand), Ang Lee creates one of the most thoughtful, artistic blockbusters ever made by a Hollywood studio.
Life of Pi is chiefly to be recommended for the punch of its core story. Never mind the cod-philosophical breadth - feel the impressive emotional depth.
With Life Of Pi, Ang Lee has delivered bold, inspirational and intelligent cinema, the likes of which is rarely seen - and for that reason alone this is unmissable.
A film of staggering beauty, great intelligence, high technical ability and no little humour.
Life Of Pi must be the most beautiful film of the year, a technical marvel, and magic realism at its most magical.
I thought of Monty Python and the Holy Grail and the King of Swamp Castle's determination to build on that sodden earth. It stayed up in the end but it wouldn't take much for it to fall over.
Despite some lovely images and those eyepopping effects, it is a shallow and self-important shaggy-dog story - or shaggy-tiger story - and I am bemused by the saucer-eyed critical responses it's been getting.
You could just wallow in the visual lavishness of this movie and not think at all about what it 'means' and be blown away by it.
Lee maintains a very precise balance between the wondrous and the outrageous so we are never taken for fools in swallowing this tall tale - it might just be true.
Is Lee's film a fable? Is it an adventure? No, it's a super-movie.
Ang Lee has, for the most part, constructed such a wondrous piece of filmmaking that even the 3D works.
Beautifully shot and superbly written, this is an emotionally engaging, thought provoking drama with jaw-dropping special effects work and a superb central performance from Suraj Sharma.
Ang Lee's astonishing adaptation of Yann Martel's fantastical bestseller makes it hard to believe how anyone dubbed Life of Pi 'unfilmable'.
The real strength of the film is in its stunning imagery, which evokes the mysteries of the universe and stirs great tension as Pi and a truly lifelike CGI tiger pussyfoot around each other on the way to enlightenment.
Yes, this is fantasy cinema. One man, alone with his wonderment, suspended between sky and sea.
Perhaps you need an unshakeable faith and the ability to believe in fantastical stories to really appreciate it.
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Topic | Last Post | Replies |
---|---|---|
Life of Pi and the Utility of Religion | 13 hours ago | 5 |
Magic vs Reality | 2 days ago | 0 |
clearly not a 'love at first sight'..! simply brilliant movie! | 3 days ago | 4 |
Were the animals in Life of Pi real? | 4 days ago | 4 |
Oscar Nomination Categories?? | 5 days ago | 11 |
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