Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a story about a young Indian boy who finds himself alone in a lifeboat after his ship sinks - his only companions are a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Throughout his journey, the protagonist, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. The book was published in 2001 and was adapted by Ang Lee for the big screen in 2012, winning four awards from eleven nominations, including Best Director.

Unlike several book-to-film adaptations, Life of Pi did not disappoint its many fans. Instead of losing fans and falling victim to critics, it gained more fans. This was largely due to how they handled the original material. The book is well know and well loved for the inner struggle and triumph of Pi, whose main goal is simply to survive, while his secondary goal is to spiritually come to terms with what has happened.

What is most surprising, though, is that the screenplay is only 75 pages compared to the 400 plus pages of the book. As a general rule of thumb, one page in a screenplay equals one minute on the screen. However, due to the stunning cinematography and the computer graphics, the movie is 127 minutes long. These visuals replace the inner monologues that the book uses to show the changes in Pi. Excluding the monologues was the biggest risk David Magee, the screenwriter, took when he adapted the book. The book focuses mainly on how Pi uses his knowledge of animals and religion for self reflection. While the book’s visuals do add to the inner turmoil of Pi and give the reader something to picture and place Pi in, they are not the focus. In the movie, though, they are focus, giving the movie an easy-going pace that is not weighed down by voiceover. The only time the film did use voiceover was for the