History YMMV / LifeOfPi

** The story itself. Which version is true? The "animal" version (the one we read) or [[spoiler: the version where Pi bumps off the Cook and eats his corpse]]? Anyone reading could argue that, since the agents from the Japanese ministry of transport go "My God" at hearing the second version, maybe the [[spoiler: Cook version]] is what really happened and that the version we read was something Pi (or his mind) came up with means of coping. Or maybe both of the versions are bunk and Pi himself is an unreliable narrator.

* HilariousInHindsight: Irrfan Khan plays the adult Pi. This wasn't [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan the only movie in 2012]] that Irrfan Khan was in with a character named Richard Parker.

** The story itself. Which version is true? The "animal" version (the one we read) or [[spoiler: the version where Pi bumps off the Cook and eats his corpse]]? Anyone reading could argue that, since the agents from the Japanese ministry of transport go "My God" at hearing the second version, maybe the [[spoiler: Cook version]] is what really happened and that the version we read was something Pi (or his mind) came up with means of coping. Or maybe both of the versions are bunk and Pi himself is unreliable narrator.

** The story itself. Which version is true? The "animal" version (the one we read) or [[spoiler: the version where Pi bumps off the Cook and eats his corpse]]? Anyone reading could argue that, since the agents from the Japanese ministry of transport go "My God" at hearing the second version, maybe the [[spoiler: Cook version]]] is what really happened and that the version we read was something Pi (or his mind) came up with means of coping. Or maybe both of the versions are bunk and Pi himself is unreliable narrator.

* HardToAdaptWork: ''Life Of Pi'' is a DefiedTrope example. The book was considered "unadaptable" because of the strange narrative, but the film pulled it off to rave reviews, albeit by using enough high quality CGI to bankrupt the animation company. The Broadway play has been similarly impressive.

* HardToAdaptWork: ''Life Of Pi'' is a DefiedTrope example. The book was considered "unadaptable" because of the strange narrative, but the film pulled it off to rave reviews, albeit by using enough high quality CGI to bankrupt the animation company.

* StockParodyJokes: Replacing Pi with [[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]] and the tiger with Hobbes.

* AcceptableReligiousTargets: Pi respects and admires his strictly atheistic teacher, and devoutly practices Hinduism, Islam, ''and'' Christianity. However, he heaps all of his scorn on agnostics, viewing them as doubters who lack the resolve to pick a side.

** The story itself. Which version is true? The "animal" version (the one we read) or [[spoiler: the version where Pi bumps off the Cook and eats his corpse]]? Anyone reading could argue that, since the agents from the Japanese ministry of transport go "My God" at hearing the second version, maybe the [[spoiler: Cook version]]] is what really happened and that the version we read was something Pi (or his mind) came up with means of coping. Or maybe both of the versions of bunk and Pi himself is unreliable narrator.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The [[spoiler:carnivorous]] island and [[spoiler:why Pi decides to leave]]. It's more overt in the film but is there in the book; Pi notes that if he had stayed on the island, he and Richard Parker would have [[spoiler:died, with full bellies but before their prime, and the island would have eaten them in turn. The question becomes if they would have died too young or if it's a case of WeAllDieSomeday, and Pi would have gotten complacent, refusing to brave the sea again. His braving the sea means he eventually returns to civilization and is able to rebuild his life, but at the cost of losing Richard Parker]].

* SpiritualAdaptation: Since Creator/BillWatterson refuses to adapt ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' into another medium, ''Life of Pi'' is the closest one can get to a film adaptation of Watterson's comic. Just like the comic strip, the movie tells two versions of the same story with one version more blatantly bizarre than the other. In addition, both ''Life of Pi'' and ''Calvin and Hobbes'' feature a tiger that is [[AmbiguousSituation either real or imaginary]], and both stories ultimately come to the same conclusion that it truly doesn't matter which perspective was the correct one.

* {{Absurdism}}: Evidence is not what convinced Pi of God; it was his refusal to accept a world without God, or as he calls it, "missing the better story", and he knows it. This answer to the question of life's meaning is defined by absurdist Albert Camus as "Philosophical Sucide".[[https://medium.com/strawm-n/albert-camus-the-absurd-b7b0e367a967]][[https://medium.com/strawm-n/albert-camus-philosophical-suicide-physical-suicide-and-the-absurd-326014bdfa80]]

* {{Absurdism}}: Evidence is not what convinced Pi of God; it was his refusal to accept a world without God, or as he calls it, "missing the better story", and he knows it. This is known in absurdism as "Philosophical Suicide"[[https://medium.com/strawm-n/albert-camus-the-absurd-b7b0e367a967]][[https://medium.com/strawm-n/albert-camus-philosophical-suicide-physical-suicide-and-the-absurd-326014bdfa80]]