LIFE OF PI

This was the story of an Indian boy, Pi, and his family as they were heading to Canada. The ship sunk during a fierce storm and Pi was the only survivor in addition to a few animals that escaped from the ship (Pi's family owned a zoo in India and they were bringing the animals to Canada to sell.). And the only animal that survived was Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger.

This story was told by an adult Pi (now a successful married with children teacher in Manitoba) to a man who was going to write a book about his adventure.

I kept feeling like the movie was trying to reach some cosmic heights of morality; to impart a wisdom that would be the answer to all of mankind's suffering; to teach one of those basic life truths that would astound the masses and suddenly make sense of the world. It never achieved that. In spite of the great visuals, I only gave it a 7.5 and bill gave it a 7.

The beginning of the film which showed Pi's childhood and interactions with his school chums and his family and the decision to emigrate and the storm which sunk the ship was very very interesting and fast paced. but once all the animals except the tiger died and Pi figured out some basic survival tricks because he was not only trying to stay alive floating on the open sea but also trying not to be mauled and eaten by the tiger, i became bored. Pi was on the water way too long. 

And the film never picked up speed or interest for me after he was rescued.

One of the greatest parts of the movie was that it did not ascribe human qualities and actions to the animals. This would have been especially easy to do with the tiger who stayed on the lifeboat the whole time they were at sea. Richard Parker stayed an animal up to the end and I really appreciated that.