Life Of Pi (8/10)

The last time I saw a picture so beautiful was Tree Of Life and, more similarly, War Horse. 

Ang Lee has amazing shots from beginning until the end. And I have to say, I kind of regret for not watching this on 3D because even in 2D I saw the 3D shots and wished they were 3D right then. More importantly, this movie was shot in 3D, Lee's vision was in 3D. 

The bad, or not so good, points first. First one was when the tiger pulled the deer through the bars when Pi was a boy. I didn't think it would be that easy to just pull the deer through when it had so many limbs.

Second was when the carcasses on the boat disappeared. That was way too easy to get rid of something that should have caused some disgust to Pi with the decaying happening in such small quarters, under the hot sun no less. 

Third was Lee's direction where some bits of his storytelling felt too Disney-like, too "easy" and "convenient", almost wishful thinking-like. 

I at first thought that the CGI of the fish and whale were too dream like and not real enough. But in the end, and ***spoiler alert so skip to the next paragraph***, we were posed with the question of whether the story was fantasy or real, I thought it tied in to the dream like pictures very suitably; whether Lee intended for it or not.

But the good of it all was just far greater. Every frame was a picturesque image. The characters, and I mean the animals, were "alive". When the ship went down like the Titanic, it was just as dramatic and the CGI obviously was much better. The story itself was already beautiful to begin with, and Lee gave it a life on the silver screen. The storytelling too was superb, shifting back and forth in the beginning and in the end between the younger and older self of Pi. 

And one of the best bits were definitely the opening sequence with the live shots of the animals. Definitely one of the highlights of this year. Lee outdid himself once again.