Life of Pi trailer passes the Zebra

20th Century Fox has released the first trailer for its upcoming high-seas fantasy, Life of Pi.

Other than a few seconds of teaser footage on the website, we’ve had to make do with the clip shown exclusively with Prometheus. Now however, we have this beautiful, if a bit short, trailer:

The main action of the film takes place on a lifeboat populated only by Pi and a giant tiger, so don’t expect much dialogue.

In addition to the trailer, we’ve got this new synopsis for the film, which shows where it will differ from the book:

Director Ang Lee (“Brokeback Mountain,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) creates a groundbreaking movie event about a young man who survives a tragic disaster at sea and is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While marooned on a lifeboat, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with the ship’s only other survivor — a fearsome Bengal tiger. 

For the uninitiated, the original novel included several additional animals in the life boat, including a hyena and an Injured zebra. It seems they’ve been removed, but perhaps they’ll be presented in other ways, like getting to see the Zebra in the capsizing scene. 

There is also a talent-filled supporting cast – including Tobey Maguire and Gérard Depardieu – so, clearly, the whole film doesn’t take place on the boat.

If you want to see the trailer in hir-es, Apple has the exclusive.

Life of Pi floats into theaters November 21, 2012.