Life of Pi
Academy Award × 4
Rent/Purchase
The story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper's son who finds himself in the company of a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck sets them adrift in the Pacific Ocean.
What critics thought
Ang Lee's adaptation of the supposedly unfilmable novel lands as a visual spectacle nearly all critics found breathtaking, with its use of 3D singled out as genuinely expressive rather than gimmicky. The real fault line is whether the film earns its philosophical ambitions: admirers see it as emotionally and spiritually resonant, while detractors argue it papers over the novel's darker, more unsettling undercurrents with gorgeous imagery and hollow uplift.
“a miraculous achievement of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Life of Pi puts 3D in the hands of a worldclass film artist. (Ang) Lee uses 3D with the delicacy and lyricism of a poet. You don't just watch this movie, you live it.”
Peter Travers·Rolling Stone
“the movie invites you to believe in all kinds of marvelous things, but it also may cause you to doubt what you see with your own eyes – or even to wonder if, in the end, you have seen anything at all”
A. O. Scott·The New York Times
“A stacked-deck theological inquiry filtered through a Titanic-by-way-of-Slumdog Millionaire narrative, Life of Pi manages occasional spiritual wonder through its 3-D visuals but otherwise sinks like a stone”
Nick Schager·The Village Voice
“despite some lovely images and those eyepopping effects, it is a shallow and self-important shaggy-dog story – or shaggy-tiger story … It deserves every technical prize going.”
Peter Bradshaw·The Guardian
Genres
Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Cast & Crew
DirectorAng Lee
StarringSuraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Ayush Tandon, Gautam Belur, Adil Hussain
ComposerMychael Danna
Life of Pi
Academy Award × 4
The story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper's son who finds himself in the company of a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck sets them adrift in the Pacific Ocean.
What critics thought
Ang Lee's adaptation of the supposedly unfilmable novel lands as a visual spectacle nearly all critics found breathtaking, with its use of 3D singled out as genuinely expressive rather than gimmicky. The real fault line is whether the film earns its philosophical ambitions: admirers see it as emotionally and spiritually resonant, while detractors argue it papers over the novel's darker, more unsettling undercurrents with gorgeous imagery and hollow uplift.
“a miraculous achievement of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Life of Pi puts 3D in the hands of a worldclass film artist. (Ang) Lee uses 3D with the delicacy and lyricism of a poet. You don't just watch this movie, you live it.”
Peter Travers·Rolling Stone
“the movie invites you to believe in all kinds of marvelous things, but it also may cause you to doubt what you see with your own eyes – or even to wonder if, in the end, you have seen anything at all”
A. O. Scott·The New York Times
“A stacked-deck theological inquiry filtered through a Titanic-by-way-of-Slumdog Millionaire narrative, Life of Pi manages occasional spiritual wonder through its 3-D visuals but otherwise sinks like a stone”
Nick Schager·The Village Voice
“despite some lovely images and those eyepopping effects, it is a shallow and self-important shaggy-dog story – or shaggy-tiger story … It deserves every technical prize going.”
Peter Bradshaw·The Guardian
Genres
Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Cast & Crew
DirectorAng Lee
StarringSuraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Ayush Tandon, Gautam Belur, Adil Hussain
ComposerMychael Danna
Rent/Purchase