In 3D based on the novel. The movie opens on an inspiring writer (Rafe Spall) in conversation with a now middle-aged Pi (Irrfan Khan) who has a story of the most incredible childhood adventure. When he was a boy, he was raised in a zoo. He was raised Hindu, then move into Christian, Catholic, even Jewish, etc, but he’s looking for a higher purpose. He was named for an uncle with some babbling name shortened to Pi. The uncle was a swimmer, and that’s a good thing especially if as a teen you’ll eventually be capsized from a ship sailing to Canada with your parents, and end up on a raft with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a Bengal tiger named “thirsty.” Thirsty’s name was mixed up in a clerical error so now the tiger is named “Richard Parker.” Pi believes the tiger has a soul. He sees it in his eyes.
In this 2 hour 20 twenty minute film by the great Director Ang Lee – Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain, Sense & Sensibility – it takes a little too long to get to that point, but once we do, the film transcends us to one of those places we’ve never been spiritually and then screams at us “Academy Award winner!!” The film hypnotizes us. It feels a bit like Titanic and a far more sophisticated version of Tom Hank’s Castaway with a touch of Slumdog Millionaire. It enchants you in a way that no other film this year will, and while it’s being compared to Avatar it isn’t that, because this isn’t blue creatures, this is a young man (Surai Sharma) stuck out at sea. He could be us. He becomes us. He is us. And he taps into all our fears and weaknesses. The best film of the year because like all the great Oscar winners before it, it’s just different. Four Tiaras