Can Life of Pi Upset the Odds and Win at The Oscars?

Can Life of Pi Upset the Odds and Win at The Oscars?

It's the time of the year when every major film release is subject to more rumour space than normal, as Argo and Lincoln are mooted to dominate at the Academy Awards come 2013, but is Ang Lee's Life of Pi a viable contender?

One look at the reviews would certainly suggest that odds of up to 12/1 could be a decent wager, considering Ben Affleck's Argo and Steven Spielberg's Lincoln are as short as 7/4 and 9/4 respectively. With a positive score of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, it seems as though Life of Pi is worthy of any Oscars talk that comes it way. "Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" is a miraculous achievement of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery," say The Chicago Sun Times in a 4/4 review, while The Los Angeles Times give it 5/5, saying, "There are always moral crosscurrents in Lee's most provocative work, but so magical and mystical is this parable, it's as if the filmmaker has found the philosopher's stone." Entertainment weekly say, simply, "Everything looks beautiful in Life of Pi."

Perhaps a more impressive outsider is Paul Thomas Anderson's, The Master, which started off in pole position to win Best Film, but it's since slipped into a position of obscurity in terms of Oscar standings. We wouldn't be surprised to see Lincoln clean up, though, as politically emotive films usually do, and considering the recent re-election of Obama, it's on-topic and on-pace to dominate come February. Please note, odds are correct at time of writing and may fluctate. In fact, they will fluctuate.