Life of Pi

A zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a tiger hop on a lifeboat with a Hindu, a Muslim and a Christian. Sounds like a joke if you haven’t read the best-selling novel, Life of Pi.

And five years ago, it would have also been a joke to film this story due to technological limitations. Luckily, the movie version waited for CG to become seamless enough to create a fully believable tiger, for 3D to become somewhat gimmick-less…and for Director Ang Lee to oversee it all.

This is more than a retelling of the familiar survival story. Life of Pi, as told from the view of a 14 year old, examines the resilience of the human spirit when faith is tested. Perhaps it should have been called The Young Man and the Sea. 

Simply put: Lee serves up an amazing Pi. See it in 3-D, which hasn’t been used this well since Avatar.

Award potential: Count on nominations for Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Visual Effects (front-runner) and more. Suraj Sharma, the teenage Pi, will face tough competition in the Best Actor category — but don’t rule him out.

The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks.