Life of Pi - 2013 Oscar Nominee for Best 1) Motion Picture, 2) Director, 3) Adapted Screenplay, 4) Production Design, 5) Cinematography, 6) Sound Effects, 7) Sound Editing, 8) Original Score, 9) Original Song, 10) Film Editing, and 11) Visual Effects

You hated the movie because the tiger scared your five-year-old? Really?

For years Yann Martel's novel, Life of Pi, was deemed impossible to bring to the big screen. Ang Lee has accomplished the impossible with this beautifully made adaptation about a boy who survives a shipwreck for months, sharing a lifeboat (not to mention a peril-fraught relationship) with a Bengal tiger. Every Oscar nomination is well earned and almost anti-climactic to the actual accomplishments of the film.

The magnificence of the cinematography and special effects make this worth seeing, and the cleverness and desperation with which Pi meets the challenges of survival keep the pace moving and the viewer's attention unabated.

Caveat:  Not to be viewed by the very young or faint of heart. Just before going to see Life of Pi, an acquaintance warned me that it was the worst movie she had ever seen. From questioning her about what made it so bad, she related leaving the theater with her terrified five-year-old only an hour into the flick. When Scott and I were viewing the film, we witnessed a similar incident midway as a distressed mother fled with her child. Hello. "PG" rating stands for "parental guidance". Exercise it.

There is no foul language, sex, or man-made violence. But Nature's brutality can be the hardest, and the sense of constant peril throughout the movie makes it one to be watched only by those who have some level of emotional endurance. If you can manage that, the payoff is vastly rewarding.

This is one worth the premium for the 3D experience.