Life of Pi Review

One Line Review: A unique movie, but not engaging.

Positive Points: Direction; Story; impressive visual effects

Negative Points: Weak screenplay

Plot: The story begins with a writer (Rafe Spall) who is looking for an inspiration to write a novel. This is where an older Pi (Irfan Khan) narrates him his real life incidence. After discussing quite few events of his youth including the reason behind his shortened French name(Piscine Molitor Patel) and his first encounter with the dreaded 400 pound Royal Bengal Tiger, strangely named Richard Parker, the protagonist moves on to narrate the main part. Pi's family comprising his father (Adil Hussain), his mother (Tabu) and his younger brother (Vibhish kumar) run a zoo in the Union Territory of Pondicherry. So as to have a much better life, the family decides to immigrate to Canada. They board a Japanese ship and bring along their zoo animals on it, including Richard Parker, since they are their property. In an unfortunate turn of events, the ship meets a fate, when a storm struck it in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and Pi's family and most of the animals drown with it. However, as for Pi, his fate isn't near and he miraculously survives because of his advanced swimming skills. However, that's not all. Along with him, he has an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena and Richard Parker. The question lingers, where will destiny take them? Where will they end up? Will they survive?

Performances: Performances play a vital role in keeping the audience's interest alive in the film. Irfan Khan's performance is as astounding as usual. Though Tabu's role in the film is short, it is enough to impress the audience. Pi's younger version played by Ayush Tandon is also impressive and delighting in his performance. When it comes to Adil Hussain, his acting reflects the minute details of his performing role, then be it his typical Gujarati accent or his portrayal of an angry family man, he just gets it in the exact way. His character succeeds to make an impression on your mind, though the role is short. Suraj Sharma's dialogues, his expressions and the keenness of his body language and mannerisms convince you of the perfection of his performance.

Direction And Other Aspects: Some of the scenes in the movie are really impressive including the solar system scene of Krishna-Yashoda, the opening credits and the ending island scene. However, the movie is also met by a weak screenplay. On the other hand, the director has failed to correct the mistakes in the main novel. This also makes direction a bit of the downer. Also one would expect a great climax from the film, which the film unfortunately doesn't deliver.

Verdict: The film is definitely worth a watch with family, and symbolizes the victory of human spirit though the climax isn't much great given in the story. The movie, frankly is not an epic, but is somewhat likable.