Little Shop Movie Review: Life Of Pi, Rise of the Guardians & Hitchcock

Won 4 Oscar Awards Feb 2013:
Directing, Cinematography, Original Score & Visual Effects.

Irrfan Khan(Pi Pattel) tells a writer his story and we are joyfully swept into the world of Pi, there is a wonderful explanation why his name is in fact Pi.

The story, casting and the overall sheer magic of wonder had me totally swept away for the 2+ hours of film-this is what movies are about, envoking magic and wonder telling a story through a story and using great visuals to help tell that story.

The family is forced to relocate to Canada and they load up all their animals that they have in their zoo and head out-there is a bad storm and the ship sinks taking with it Pi's family and the majority of the animals-he is on one of the life boats at first with a zebra, hyena orangutan & tiger.

The incredible part for me was the complete respect that was shown for the animals in this film, even though they are all digitally created for this film. The young Pi has the utmost respect and keeps his distance, never is there a moment where the tiger is treated as a pet/friend without the respect of what he is capable of.

The life that the animators give this animal is just amazing.

This was such a joy to watch and am trying to remember when I was last swept away by a movie like I was with this one there are a number of films that stay with you long after you see them and this is one for me, I feel fortunate that I was sent this in the mail as one of the "For Your Consideration" DVDs and that I watched it. I watch a lot of movies that I do not get around to reviewing but I am going to start doing the many reviews together again.

The scene above is from one of the many nights that he spends on a raft that he has made himself to avoid being on the boat with the tiger and the jellyfish have come out for a swim that night.
There is amazing amount of peace that is felt throughout this film and there are some really tense scenes between him and the tiger.
Below he tries to tame the tiger to a degree where he is able to gain access to the boat as it does have food and water.

But that of course is met with resistance from the tiger as cats are very territorial.

I have the utmost new found respect for Ang Lee as a director I have not been a fan of much of what he has done in the past with the exception of "The Ice Storm".

Director Ang Lee accepts the Feature Film Nomination Plaque for Life of Pi during the Directors Guild Of America Awards on February 2, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. On February 5, 2013, Ang Lee received another honour, a Visionary Award from the Visual Effects Society. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

This is easily one of my favorite films from last year and will recommend that if you like this type of film, then definitely go and check it out, this is now one of my favorite films of all time.

Here are some videos to take you:

Behind The Scenes 

Pi's Lullaby Music Video(below)

Below is a video showing the Paris premiere of the film where they showed it in one of the town's swimming pools.

(Film Synopsis)

When the evil spirit Pitch launches an assault on Earth, the Immortal Guardians team up to protect the innocence of children all around the world.

As I write this review for this fantastic magical movie I am listening to the Soundtrack of the film as I received this in the mail a few weeks after I had received the film for the Awards season.

Let me say that I had heard very little about this film last year-one that got overlooked by many and I am not sure as to why this is storytelling at it's best.The film is done by the same creative team from "How To Train Your Dragon" which I also loved the year it came out.

Here is a nice video to go with the title song of the film

"Just Dream"

The images and the characters are fantastic in this film every element that can be used to tell a great story is here with Santa, The Easter Bunny, The Sandman, The Tooth Fairy and others as well. This was only second to my Brave for me as far as Animated films go.

If ever there were a film where it should just be watched solely for the 2 lead performances this would be one of them for sure. Not to delve into whether the film was factual or not in the history of the one film for which Hitchcock is known for mostly Psycho. This is truly a great film for all the actors involved here but the storyline is trivial at best.

The casting is great at getting the cast to look like the people that are now icons in the film industry.

However getting the right faces does not mean you have a great film this made me wanting more, more Hitchcock.

Seeing that this only covers one part of his majestic career is a shame but it is what it is.

Even that scene is watchable just because the two actors are such pros.



Here is a video they showed before the film in the theatres!

Just a note in the trailer below:

The music playing in the background is from 

Peter Greenaway's shocker:

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

This was a disappointment but will recommend it on the performances alone.

Thank you for reading this
Sincerely
Anthony Nadeau