Everyone loved it, but no one wanted it; the world seemed to agree it just couldn't be done. Such was the fate of Yann Martel's epic story of survival, spirituality and humanity, "Life of Pi," until director Ang Lee stepped on board.
Making movies is harder now than it ever was in the past, that's nothing new, but few book-to-film adaptations with such esteemed reputations survive the kind of development hell "Life of Pi" has and still make it to the screen. Perhaps in the spirit of the story itself though, somehow, someway, director Ang Lee completed the notoriously impossible-to-film project.
Based on the 2001 novel by Yann Martel, "Life of Pi" is a fantasy/adventure story about a 16-year-old boy named Pi who is the only person to survive the sinking of a freighter ship. After the ship sinks, Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with an orangutan, hyena, a wounded zebra, and a Bengal tiger.
Lee ("Brokeback Mountain," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") was far from the first director to try his hand at adapting the bizarre story into a film. Before Lee, the project had numerous directors and writers attached. The Los Angeles Times credited Fox 2000 Pictures executive Elizabeth Gabler with keeping the project active.
"Most filmmakers shrank from adapting it for the big screen after it was published. Even Martel acknowledges the dense plot has enough material for multiple movies," noted The Star Phoenix.
As reviews for the film begin to stream in, it looks like Lee has not only filmed what many deemed "unfilmable," but his portrayal of a young man's journey lost at sea in a lifeboat with a fearsome tiger has eviscerated expectations.
"Mr. Lee's film is stronger as a visual experience-especially in 3-D-than an emotional one, but it has a final plot twist that may also change what you thought you knew about the ancient art of storytelling..." said the Wall Street Journal in its review.
"Yet it's the spectacle of Pi's journey that makes the most lasting impression. Man and beast must work out an armed truce-first out of need, then out of unstated respect. The tiger's weapons are his teeth and claws; the man has his brain," the Journal concluded.
Similarly, The San Francisco Gate was blown away by Lee's spectacular use and control of innovative 3-D technology.
"... Ang Lee has made the most visually stunning 3-D film yet, with "Life of Pi." That just about defines the entire value of 'Life of Pi,' and it's probably the only thing it will be remembered for. Otherwise, "Life of Pi" is not nearly as successful: It has the obviousness of a parable, but none of the succinctness. It's a slow-moving fable, with enough story and substance to make for one amazing Imax short. Instead the material is stretched beyond its limits into a long, repetitive and often stagnant 127-minute feature film," said the San Francisco Gate.
"Other pleasures ... in "Life of Pi," [are] all incidental, all of them adding up to a movie that can't be dismissed because there is too much in it but can't be embraced because it's all spread too thin," The Gate added.
Entertainment Weekly too was blown away by the film's visual spectacle and impressed with its star, although it admitted the prominence of impressive CGI was distracting at times.
"The story is very nice. So is newcomer Suraj Sharma, as the teenage Pi. But both he and the movie kept this viewer at a distance, my spiritual self unroused. Watching the director's first 3-D project, I found myself drifting off, thinking, ''How did Ang Lee make that CG tiger look so excellently tiger-y? How did he make the stars so twinkly?'' And then I thought, 'Gee, the director has worked so hard on this, and so meticulously. What craftsmanship.' But that's not the same thing as being swept away," said Entertainment Weekly.
"Martel's bigger theme is about the narratives we all tell to keep ourselves afloat - whoppers and prayers, diversions and dreams. Lee's bigger theme isn't God or survival, but the awesome adventure of making the imaginary visible, the adventure of making movies."
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