This article was originally published on www.display-central.com.
I have just returned from a screening of the Life of Pi at the AMC Empire 25 theater in Times Square on the movie’s opening day. While the main reason to see the movie was to check out the new Dolby Atmos sound mixing, I came away impressed with this movie on many levels. There are four aspects to cover in this review: story, visual, 3D and aural.
Aural
Let’s start with aural. The Dolby Atmos solution is one of two new sound solutions being developed as next generation audio for theatrical (the other being Barco’s Aural 11.1). With Dolby Atmos, each sound element can be treated as its own object. That allows a voice, a chirp or some other sound to be moved all about the theater. Think of an audio engineer using a joystick to move the sound around and above you to complement what you are seeing on screen.
These object tracks are not typically mixed to a 5.1 or 7.1 sound track, although that can be easily done for theaters not equipped with the speakers to support Atmos processing. In fact, what Dolby does is calibrate each theater based on the type, number and location of speakers in that theater. This calibration file then guides how the objects in the Atmos audio processor plays back the sounds though the various amplifiers and speakers.
The AMC Empire 25 has on screen with the Atmos processing. There are 60 speakers in the theater with one series of surround speakers running along the walls and the back of the theater. There are three rows of speakers that run front from front to back along the ceiling and three rows of speakers behind the screen. All are controlled by the Dolby Atmos audio processor located in the projection booth. Dolby spent about 2 days setting up and calibrating the theater for the new sound processing.
The screen was big (I am sure of the exact size but perhaps 50-60 feet and curved). The projector is a Christie brand with a 6KW Xenon lamp with a RealD XL polarization modulator for 3D. I did not find the brightness level to be a detraction at all.
For me, evaluating the aural aspects of the film are the most difficult part as I often get captivated by the story or focus on the visual elements. You almost have to see the movie a second time to really evaluate the audio aspects (and maybe close your eyes from time to time). I did not have this luxury, so here is what I picked up.
Richard Parker, a computer generated Bengal Tiger in Life of Pi
First, the movie has a lot of dialog so those speakers behind the screen were used heavily. I did notice that dialog seemed to emanate from the point on the screen where the actor’s mouth was, helping to create a more lifelike feeling.
There was also a scene with a pack (herd?) of meerkats whose calls surround and swirl about the theater. Other audio elements seemed more subtle helping to set the mood (or I was just not paying attention as distracted by other aspect of the film).
The bottom line is that the Atmos capability was not used as a gimmick to call attention to itself, but rather used to fill space not filled by story and visual. And this it appeared to do very well.
Story
The story of the Life of Pi is structured as flashback. It describes the life of a boy, Pi, and his family in a French-speaking part of India as he grows up on the urban zoo that his family operates. For economic reasons, the family decides it must move to Canada, taking a cargo ship with all of the zoo animals to be sold at their destination. A severe storm comes along sinking the ship with the eventual sole survivors being Pi and a tiger amusingly named Richard Parker. These two must survive on a single lifeboat for months before they finally run aground in Mexico.
One theme of the narrative is about survival at sea and survival with a beast that will devour Pi in an instant if given the chance. The second narrative is about Pi’s spiritual journey and his effort to discover God.
Pi’s world is also inhabited by schools of dolphins, flying fish, whales, animals and fish of all sorts. And, many of them seem to have personalities and spirits that Pi tries to connect to, especially Richard Parker the tiger. Is his struggle with this wild beast metaphor for his own physical and spiritual struggles? A second story line for the survival at sea, revealed at the end, is suggestive of this metaphor.
These narratives work quite well, but are not flawless. The story is a little slow to build in the beginning and a little long in the middle, but otherwise offers a well crafted story that is satisfying and complete.
Visual
The visuals in this movie are in a word awe inspiring. The cinematography is rich and captivating looking at times like a Discovery nature feature (but in a good way). There are many images that entice you to live in the scene and enjoy the richness of what you are watching.
Bioluminescent Water in Life of Pi
But perhaps the most innovative visual element are the special effects. This is a movie about survival at sea so there is a lot of water to look at. What Director Ang Lee has done here is to treat this vast gray ocean as another canvas upon which to paint more image. In doing so, he conjures up an almost magical world that is almost as enchanting as Pandora.
For example, in a high shot of a boat float on the sea, the ocean is replaced with a magnificent night sky scene so it appears the boat is adrift in the universe, not on an ocean of water. This same effect is also used to place a partly cloudy sky illuminated by the reddish glow of sunset lighting, or to mirror people and buildings in a swimming pool. It is really enchanting and wonderfully done.
Most amazing is the Bengal tiger Richard Parker. I learned after seeing the movie that this was a completely CG generated creature. I was completely fooled. It is that good.
There are also scenes where the ocean and creatures within all seem to fluoresce creating a magical world. There is a scene where Pi sees the sinking ship from underwater – lights still aglow as it drifts into the deep. Is this imagined or real? Can there be such a thing as a carnivorous floating island? In fact, this whole theme of imagined vs. real and multiple versions of the story leaves one to wondering where the truth really lies.
3D
I have to say that this is one of the best uses of 3D I have ever seen. Part of the impact may have resulted from the large screen, quality projection and ideal seating position, but I suspect that was a modest element as the pre-show features exhibited some mild discomfort whereas the movie created none.
This is not to say the movie was flat – it was far from it, but the choices made by the stereographers were so natural and comfortable that it invited you into the film. Use of out of screen parallax was there, but not exaggerated.
And there are clever new uses of 3D. For example, a zoom into a book graphic morphs into a 3D solar system swirling on screen. There were scenes with layered objects that had a unique feel to them without being cardboard cut outs. In one sunset scene, I even saw a flare in 3D!
I don’t know how all the 3D was done, but I can say this should be studied as best in class example, in my opinion.
In conclusion, this is a movie that works on many levels and will leave many thinking about the film for days afterwards. That’s a solid A in my book. –Chris Chinnock
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