I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a beautiful movie.

Ok, sure, there is absolutely no pie in this movie, but what it lacks in pictures of tasty pastry, it more than makes up for with stunning visuals, characters we love and a massively engaging plot. Oh, and there’s a tiger. An amazing tiger.

Now, full disclosure, I have NOT read the book. It’s literally in a stack of books beside my bed. So I went into the movie knowing very little about the story.

Oh, I knew there was a tiger. A boy. A lot of water. And I’d seen trailers that highlighted some amazing shots (like the whale bursting out of the luminescent ocean or the tin can thrown into a sea of amber glass.) In fact, the trailer sold me. I won’t deny it. It seemed like a movie I should see on the big screen, where I could be swallowed up by the visuals.

And, in that department, I wasn’t disappointed. Like a true work of art, the director, Ang Lee, has created images that will stick in your mind long after you’ve left the theater.

What I didn’t expect was how much humor would be in the story, like how Pi changed his name, how his father teased him about religious holidays, or when Pi learns they are going to Canada.

Pi’s Father: We are going to Canada, North America.

Pi: But Columbus was looking for India.

Funny, right?

What I also didn’t expect was how they could weave words into the story with such great effect – like the ship that “moved with the slow, massive confidence of a continent.” Or “I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye.”

Lovely!

Or how fantastic they made the tiger look (I mean, was it real or CGI? Seriously! It was that good!)

Or how the ending affects the whole story, (anyone who’s read the book will know what I’m taking about.)

Or how they crafted such an emotional, tender, exciting (even terrifying), spiritual, uplifting and yet heartbreaking narrative.

It is so much more than journey, so much more than pretty pictures, it’s an epic imagining worthy of being seen not once, but many times.

Now I have to go read the book.