Critic Reviews
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100
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Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey
There are always moral crosscurrents in Lee's most provocative work, but so magical and mystical is this parable, it's as if the filmmaker has found the philosopher's stone.
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100
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The Hollywood Reporter Todd McCarthy
Meticulous care is evident in every aspect of the film. All three actors playing Pi are outstanding.
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88
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Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Lee uses 3D with the delicacy and lyricism of a poet. You don't just watch this movie, you live it.
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88
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USA Today Claudia Puig
A spectacular high-seas epic that employs technology brilliantly and underscores the power of a vividly told story.
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83
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Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
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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80
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Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
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.
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80
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New York Daily News Joe Neumaier
Though the film's setup trudges and its closing is too pat, that hour or so on the raft is something special, and few would dive into the story's soul as Lee does.
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80
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NPR Bob Mondello
The script I did question; it takes awhile to get going, and it feels strangely flat at the very end. But in between, Lee is very skillfully employing cinema's most advanced digital techniques in the service of an adventure yarn that is gloriously old-fashioned - and often just glorious.
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75
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Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Much as I was moved by the film, I have one reservation and one warning. The framing device of the older Pi recounting his story to the author (which worked so well in Martel's novel) is intrusive and significantly detracts from the story.
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60
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Movieline
The story of Pi and Richard Parker already has the clean simplicity of a myth and really doesn't require significant elaboration, but following in the footsteps of the source material, the film provides elaboration anyway, demonstrating a condescension to the audience that dulls the spectacle it punctuates.
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50
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San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
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.
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