Review: "Life of Pi" is odd mind trip about a cast away

"Life of Pi" G
Pi is a young man who is the son of a zookeeper in French India a generation ago. When his family has to move with all their animals on a Japanese cargo ship, the ship runs afoul in a storm and is sunk, leaving Pi stranded on a lifeboat with a male tiger, a monkey, and a wounded zebra. Told also as a secondary wrap around set in modern times, Pi tells the story to a novelist who plans to make his story into a best seller. Most of the story is spent on the boat out at sea for over 220 days, crossing the Pacific. The tiger must be tamed or he will surely eat Pi. The zebra and the monkey get killed and presumably eaten. The boy and the tiger learn to cooperate while catching fish to eat. They sail into night and day on the sea and even come across a living island, although the island is likely a metaphor or delusion from being out at sea for so long. The story is somewhat interesting and emotionally charged at times, however there are times the story gets ahead of itself and does weird things just to be different, such as the island thing, and the wrap around story, and the whole back story about the boy's name. These are minor points and not issues or necessarily plot holes. It is a bit long though. Worth a rental. Certainly not Oscar bait but interesting.
Review by Adam Browne