Movie - Life of Pi

What can I say about this movie, Life of Pi (PG)?  It was interesting and visually beautiful at times.  It has drama, action, adventure, fantasy, humor and suspense.  This is a very hard review to write because I liked it and yet I am unsure exactly why. 

Here is the blurb:  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. 

The movie is a telling of Pi's life and is told by an adult Pi Patel to a writer who visits him in Canada.  So it flashes back and forth as the story is told which is good because you get the adult Pi's feelings on his experiences as he recalls them.  The story starts out being introducing to the Patel family and Pi's early life in India.  His father built/run a zoo and eventually decides to move the family to Canada for a better life.  The animals are brought on the Japanese Cargo ship to later be sold in North America.  A storm and suddenly Pi is adrift on a lifeboat with a zebra, hyena, orangutan and a Bengal tiger nicknamed Richard Parker.  The next part of the movie gets very graphic (I had to turn away a little) as you can imagine only the strong will survive the hunger.  Pi and Richard Parker are left alone and desperate.  I really felt for Pi, he was so scared but refused to give up, which came from his faith in God and His goodness.  The visuals were fantastic and there were many WOW moments.  This movie definitely has all emotions extracted from its viewers, so much so I was unable to stop watching even when it seemed to be so hopeless for these two.  I would not recommend this movie for younger children as it does have its very graphic parts but anyone who enjoys a unique tale of survival would enjoy this film.  Indian actor Suraj Sharma did a phenomenal job as shipwrecked Pi, gut wrenchingly phenomenal actually. 

My score for this movie is 7 out of 10.