Life of Pi (2012)

A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger.

Director:

Ang Lee

Writers:

Yann Martel (novel), David Magee (screenplay)

Stars:

Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain

Won 4 Oscars. Another 79 wins & 129 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Suraj Sharma	...	Pi Patel
Irrfan Khan	...	Adult Pi Patel
Ayush Tandon	...	Pi Patel (11-12 Years)
Gautam Belur	...	Pi Patel (5 Years)
Adil Hussain	...	Santosh Patel
Tabu	...	Gita Patel
Ayaan Khan	...	Ravi Patel (7 Years)
Mohd. Abbas Khaleeli	...	Ravi Patel (13-14 Years)
Vibish Sivakumar	...	Ravi Patel (18-19 Years)
Rafe Spall	...	Writer
Gérard Depardieu	...	Cook
James Saito	...	Older Insurance Investigator
Jun Naito	...	Younger Insurance Investigator
Andrea Di Stefano	...	Priest
Shravanthi Sainath	...	Anandi

Storyline

In Canada, a writer visits the Indian storyteller Pi Patel and asks him to tell his life story. Pi tells the story of his childhood in Pondicherry, India, and the origin of his nickname. One day, his father, a zoo owner, explains that the municipality is no longer supporting the zoo and he has hence decided to move to Canada, where the animals the family owns would also be sold. They board on a Japanese cargo ship with the animals and out of the blue, there is a storm, followed by a shipwrecking. Pi survives in a lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a male Bengal tiger nicknamed Richard Parker. They are adrift in the Pacific Ocean, with aggressive hyena and Richard Parker getting hungry. Pi needs to find a way to survive.

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Plot Keywords:

tiger | india | journey | faith | pi | 

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Taglines:

Welcome to Pi's Ark.

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for emotional thematic content throughout, and some scary action sequences and peril

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Taiwan UK Canada

Language:

English Tamil French Japanese Hindi Chinese

Release Date:

21 November 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Una aventura extraordinaria

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$120,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$22,451,514, 25 November 2012

Gross USA:

$124,987,023

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$609,016,565

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox 2000 Pictures, Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Datasat SDDS Dolby Atmos Dolby Surround 7.1 Sonics-DDP

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The only Best Picture Oscar nominee that year not to be nominated in any of the acting categories.

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Goofs

In the flying fish scene Pi fights Richard Parker with a boat hook. In one shot, the boat hook has a splintered end but then is completely restored.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Writer: So, you were raised in a zoo?
Adult Pi Patel: Born and raised. In Pondicherry, in what was the French part of India. My father owned the zoo, and I was delivered on short notice by a herpetologist, who was there to check on the Bengal monitor lizard. Mother and I were both healthy, but the poor lizard escaped and was trampled by a frightened cassowary. The way of karma, huh? The way of God.

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Crazy Credits

The making and legal distribution of this film supported over 14,000 jobs and involved over 600,000 work hours.

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Connections

References Aandhi (1975)

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Soundtracks

Raga Ahir Bhairav
Vocals by Pandit Jasraj
Courtesy of Saregama India
By arrangement with The Royalty Network, Inc.

User Reviews

Absolutely Jaw-Dropping

Just finished watching the Midnight Premiere. Did not disappoint one bit. The Acting is incredibly believable, and the ending ties it all together. The story sorta drags in the beginning, but Ang Lee did a good job keeping my attention to the film. The Animation is incredibly realistic. I couldn't tell the difference between what was real and what wasn't. Not one moment did I doze off. Definitely worth 127 minutes of your life. Ang Lee, you did an outstanding job. To the Cast, you all did excellent. I am very satisfied! Although there were a lot of pros, there were some cons. At one point the Format of the Film switched from 16:9 to 4:3, but that might have been the projector at the Cinemark I attended. I also noticed some of the animations of animals started to go off screen and you could see the animated objects in the black area of the Wide Screen part (I'm assuming that was for the 3D, but I watched it in 2D so it looked sketchy). But it's minor. An average viewer won't even notice it, I'm an aspiring filmmaker, and I notice the little things!! I enjoyed the film, and you will too. 9/10. Worth it.