Life of Pi, Movie Review

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 stars.

Life of Pi  is one of those rare movies that delights the eyes and warms the spirit at the same time.  Is it the same "visual miracle" akin to Avatar as Time claims?  The two can't be compared; though I marveled at Avatar, my heart was carried away by Pi.

the Life of Pi is based off of a book by Canadian author Yann Martel, and follows the life of Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel.  His name is based off of a pool in France, and yes, he got teased terribly as a child.  Besides the childhood teasing, his childhood was that of enchantment as his family owned a zoo, and he had the opportunity to grow close to the animals.  Then circumstance strikes and the family is forced to sell the zoo and travel to Canada.  Then real life begins when a tragic storm strikes and Pi is forced to survive on a lifeboat for months with a Tiger.

The story becomes one of understanding, survival and acceptance as Pi struggles to live on hardly anything while he tries to battle the beast he suddenly finds himself living with.  There is a connection there, and the Tiger helps Pi to fight for life and not lose hope.

Beautiful in every way, the film is full of wonderful music and cinematography.  Having gone into this movie with high hopes, I was not disappointed in the least.  The movie became a symbol of life, and now I want to go back for a second viewing and get more out of it.  One viewing isn't enough, and even this morning when I woke Life of Pi was on my mind.

It's not often I go to the movies and the audience claps afterwards, and I wanted to applaud right with them, but I was so moved I just sat there taking it all in.

Something interesting I read on the sites wikipedia page.  Tobey Maguire was original cast as a reporter, but in September director Ang Lee announced Tobey's scenes were cut and re shot with English actor Rafe Spall.  The director stated that Tobey's presence was too jarring, being as recognizable as he is, to the rest of the cast and wanted to go international in the casting.  

MPAA PG: For emotional thematic content throughout, and some scary action sequences and peril.

Spider-man: Movie Review

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

A few years ago, after the debacle that was Spider-Man 3, there was promise of a Spider-Man 4, with a possible 5 and 6 to go along with it.  The first movie was great, and the second movie was brilliant, so maybe those behind the 3rd installment learned their lesson and the 4th would lead the franchise back on track.  Well, needless to say, everything fell apart, and two years ago Marvel announced they were going to reboot the whole thing.  The next Spider-Man movie was going to retell the origin story with a whole new cast of fresh faces and go under the title The Amazing Spider Man. 

But do we need another one!!??  That was my reaction.  Spider-Man, the first, came out in 2002 to great success, only a decade ago.  Why the reboot?

For the longest time I was hesitant, skeptical, but the last trailer that was shone proved intriguing, and last week I saw the movie and loved it.

I didn't keep up with the cartoon series of the 90's, nor have I read the comics, but my brothers are in the know when it comes to all things geek, and they gave me the heads up about the Spider-Man film trilogy that broke with cannon.  MJ was a love interest later in Peter Parker's life, he's supposed to make his own web, there's a humor about the fight scenes that were missing, etc, so even though the trilogy was well received, true fans wished the movies stayed truer to the comics.  A reboot was the fans hope that the movies would get back to canon, and they did.

What I liked:

Though I'm not a die-hard fan, I do like the fact that The Amazing Spider Man got back to the heart of the comics.  Gwen Stacy was Peter's first love, and they did justice to her character.  I loved Emma Stone's portrayal; she and Andrew Garfield (who plays Peter Parker) have fantastic chemistry (they're also dating in real life, which proves how great they get along together).  I never cared for Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst as love interest.   

And, like the comic, Peter makes his own web device.  He also comes across as the geeky nerd he's supposed to be.  I think Tobey Maguire is a fantastic actor, but Andrew is the Peter Parker I imagined.  Overall I'm delighted with Andrews performance.  There was a lot of debate over who was going to be the better Peter, but I give the win to Andrew.

I liked Rhys Ifans as Doctor Connors.  He's a brilliant actor, and I've enjoyed some of his other work.  

Overall this was a fun movie flick.  Not perfect, but enjoyable.  All the characters felt real and relatable.  They were real people in extraordinary circumstances.

What I didn't care for:

I don't know how it was done in the comics, but I didn't like how Peter Parker ordered the web he uses from OsCorps.  Maybe its just me, but wouldn't someone figure out who is ordering all the web?  And what happens if it is no longer produced?  It's probably just a personal gripe, or a potentential plot point, I don't know.

Also, at the end when Gwen gets the antidote (to cure Doctor Connors and the police men who were turned into lizards) who gives it to her father, who then gives it to Peter, and a great antidote gas cloud heals the city, why wasn't Peter's mutation cured?  And that leads me to the mutation, animal DNA situation.  Peter gets bit by a spider and attomatically transforms.  Dr. Connors struggles, with Peter, to create a lizard formula that won't kill whatever is getting the new DNA.  How is it Dr. Connors overlooked the spiders?  And how were the spiders able to cause the mutation in the first place?  I do have to admit, the scene where Peter is in the secret room surrounded by all the spiders was really well done.

Also, one thing I think the original trilogy better accomplished was creating tension and tragedy surrounding the death Peter's Uncle, and how that ultimately shaped Peter into the hero he is.  In the new movie it was amusing watching Peter catch all these criminals, but there was something slightly hallow in it.  Though there was a great build up of Peter's character, always feeling abandoned by his parents. That struggle was believable and nicely done.

Even with those gripes, I did like the movie, and will easily see it again.  Is it up to the slandered set forth by The Avengers?  No, but it's still a fun romp.  There's been a lot of buzz that Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man is going to make an appearance in the next Avenger movie, but according to a panel this weekend at the San Diego ComicCon, Spider-Man won't be teaming up with the Avengers.  I'm honestly very dissapointed with this information.  It would have been fun to see.  Does that mean he might be in the movie, but not team up with them? . . . .

Ah well,
Have a great weekend!
Sarah