Because people are psychologically more interesting than animals, and a man alone on the sea delves deeper into his mind than one who has a tiger to keep watch over.

So, you mean you have prefered to see the human story in the film or prefered it if you were the character of the writer at the end of the film?

I would have preferred to see the human story in the film. If I were the writer at the end of the film, I would choose whatever he chooses, which, I believe, is the tiger story. If, on the other hand, the writer at the end of the film were me, he would choose what I choose: the human story.

The human characters in the film would have to be talking animals for the point of the movie to work if the human story was the one shown in the movie.

It was perfect as it was.

A shorter version of the 2nd story can be found in the introduction sequence of The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). That movie also has talking animals.

A film with amazing visuals and a great spirtual journey

A-

Congrats for Hollywood for make a decent minded movie for once...

This was about 1000% better than I ever thought it could be. Was worried we'd have another Tree of Life on our hands, holy ramblings mixed with stock footage. Instead, this film does not care what kind of faith you have. The ending pretty much hit exactly how I feel about religion, and I imagine someone on the opposite of the spectrum would feel the same thing. Like with religion, these smart people choose to believe the more magical story even though it probably isn't real. For what its worth, as soon as he started telling the second story the whole movie made sense to me.

Obviously I'm a sucker for great visuals as well. Cool new CGI, sharp lighting, exotic scenery, this movie has all of them. It was like a Danny Boyle movie without space zombies. That along with the emotional impact gives this an A+, and if it holds up will rank among my favorite all time movies till the multiverse explodes.

The Tree of Life was lightyears better than this.

Maybe on opposite day. The first twenty minutes are decent, after that its just Malick bullshit. We have professional editors for a reason.

Interesting, that is EXACTLY what I think each time I see a new Ang Lee film.

I'd agree normally. Hulk and Brokeback had atrocious editing. Tiger dragged a bit, but overall I'd say the pacing was good. For me, Life of Pi never dragged. Tree of Life dragged for almost the entire movie, and those last ten minutes were nearly unbearable. I haven't seen any other Lee movies though, so I can't defend him beyond those two.

Although I do understand why Tree of Life works for people. I bashed it only to point out how surprised I was to have liked Life of Pi so much.