Life of Pi (SPOILERS)

What do you think about the movie? Also weigh in on the way they added a twist at the end.

9/10 for me. Nothing like a good adventure (fantasy?) movie. It had some great moments and the best use of 3D in cinemas by far.

I saw this movie yesterday and it is by far my favorite movie out of all the best picture nominees, and I've seen all of them except the wild beast movie. That tiger, holy shit that tiger was amazing. But yeah this movie had everything, amazing visuals, great acting it was funny, sad and had a great sense of wonder. Only movie this year where I wanted the movie to not end.

10/10 the ending was a pretty cool twist, I never read the book but the book has the pretty much the same ending (according to Wikipedia) so i don't think they added if for the movie.

It felt like the kind of film that is great watched in the cinema in 3D, but I'm not sure it's something that I would want to watch again at home or anything, like it kind of had to be experienced in that setting. I mean it was an interesting enough film in it's own right, but once he's on the boat on his own (no humans at least) it becomes mostly about the visuals in a way until the ending section, which is fair enough since the trailers basically say as much.

Those comments make me sound overly negative, overall I found it a very enjoyable film and a pleasant surprise, especially since I've never been a big fan of 3D. It does a great job of making the most of it without having to throw things in your face.

It's super pretty! I think the ending wouldn't work if the rest of the movie isn't as fantastic as it is. I'm glad that I watched this instead of The Hobbit, just because it wasn't out in China yet.

I haven't seen it yet, but I read the book a few years ago.

All I can say is this; I'm not of the belief that Life of Pi is even the most interesting story being told in this year's Oscar nominees. Zero Dark Thirty, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, those are fascinating tales that deserve to be told in a film.

But.

But but but.

If Ang Lee managed to sell the twist in a way that readers of the book find satisfying, it deserves all the accolades it earns. Not because that's "such a good twist" or anything, but because I'm sitting at home pondering how to pull it off AND STILL MAKE IT RESONANT and coming up with nothing. That twist should be almost impossible to sell!

If the movie had ended when he reached the shore and Richard Parker disappeared, I would have enjoyed it for a great family adventure. Personally, I felt the final twist elevated it to my favourite film of last year.

That line he gives 'and so it goes with God', just really clicked everything into place with me. I've not read the book, so I'd appreciate if someone who has could chime in on this, too, but it felt to me that the story was a fable about faith and its role in defining humanity. I don't mean religious faith specifically; I think the story just uses religion because it's the most accessible and common form of faith, but just the idea of believing in something to provide aid or solace or strength and so on, and the importance it plays (or doesn't play, depending on your outlook) in our lives.

In short, bloody loved it! I think Ang Lee is one of the most creative and varied living directors and I applaud his storytelling techniques and abilities.

@Little_Socrates: I think the twist is performed with cinematic grace in the film, Ang and his HoDs strip everything down and use the simplest of their cinematic tools to achieve maximum effect. That's my opinion, at least; I'd love to hear from someone who has read the book, too!

I've heard a lot of good things about Beasts of the Southern Wild; would you recommend it?

Great book. Didn't know a movie was in the works/apparently is done and nominated for an Oscar. Yes, I live in a bubble.

The book is amazing, and from what I heard, I don't think I'd like the movie too much.
 
That book just seems impossible to translate to film. Not only the twist, but there's a large section of the book where Pi goes blind and the story relies 100% on narration (though most of the book is already amazing narration). Apparently they cut that out of the movie, so I don't think I could go into it with an open mind. 
 
Then again, I did see the American Idiot musical last night, and I freakin' loved it despite the fact that it was a different interpretation of the album that I had. But a concept album is much more open in terms of narrative than a book, so I don't know. I'll see it for free whenever I can.

@ScottishHobson: Having now seen the movie, it's a perfectly acceptable delivery of the twist, but it wasn't as incredible as I imagined it would be, either. I simply forgot about the possibility of a really excellent actor.

If you liked Pi, you should absolutely see Beasts of the Southern Wild. Ultimately, I think I like Pi better (the film is just JAW-DROPPING in 3D) but Beasts is still totally excellent.

@Xtrememuffinman: I agree that they cut some wonderful things from the book, but, ultimately, the movie is very well-done and was satisfying to me as a big Yann Martel fan.

Loved it. Remind me of Big Fish which is also one of my favorite movies of all time.

It was one of those stories that you wish you wrote it.