My friend read the book and thought it would be interesting to see the movie adaptation.
The story is about Pi, an Indian boy, whose family run the local zoo at the botanical gardens in India. When economic and political times turn tough in India, his parents decide to sell all the animals and migrate to Canada for a better and safer life. The family board a Japanese freight ship with the animals. While out at sea, a cyclone is encountered and the ship sinks, with everyone on board, except Pi and a few additional "passengers".
This is where it starts to get interesting. Because my friend read the book first, she told me that the book is very philosophical and religion based. This translation was somewhat lost in the movie, even though the creators tried to emphasise the many different religions, eg Christian, Hindu & Islam, sampled by Pi during his lifetime.
The story is told by Pi, played by Suraj Sharma. He tells the story as the only human survivor of the shipwreck and he explains his journey and how he survived the 227 days lost at sea with only a Bengal tiger, named Richard Parker, as his companion.
Generally, the movie was well directed, by Ang Lee, and I found the actors quite good. However, I think the story itself was not movie worthy. This is my opinion - sorry if I offended anyone. My friend told me after the movie that the book is a lot more graphic than the movie and while the producers cut a lot of the gore out of the movie I was still surprised at some of the scenes and wondered how it managed to get a PG rating in Australia.
While the movie was initially quite slow to start, it was nevertheless an interesting story and I have to admit that I shed a few tears towards the end, especially when Richard Parker and Pi finally make proper land.
Other stars of the movie include Gerard Depardieu, who played the evil, rude french cook and Irrfan Khan, who played the older, post shipwreck survivor, Pi.
I had my 11 year old son with me and I think the concepts and ideas of the movie were a little bit too mature for him and some of the meaning went way over his head.
My friend and I had a thorough discussion about the ending. I won't put up a spoiler here, but if anyone has seen it please let me know your thoughts? Which story do you think is the true story? Or rather which story do you prefer?
If you haven't seen it, you can go to Screen Rant for a thorough in depth discussion of the movie and the book.
http://www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=pinkacquarius
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