Life of Pi

Life of Pi (2012) starring Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall, Adil Hussain, Tabu. Directed by Ang Lee. Life of Pi is the curiously disappointing story of a boy named Pi (Sharma) who survives a ship's sinking and is stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger named Richard Parker. We know that he is going to survive, because the story is told in flashback by his adult self. The section of the film that covers the time spent at sea in the lifeboat is great -- lyrical and richly imagined -- but the last part of the movie, which is a sort of coda, dilutes the power of the story and brings it back to earth with a thud. While I enjoyed the film, I was not transported. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are provided, and closed captions are also available.) Grade: B