The first trailer for the anticipated movie adaption of author Yann Martel’s Life of Pi features stunning special effects to help tell the survival story of a lost boy and a Bengal tiger.

Pi, directed by the acclaimed Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) tells the story of Pi Patel, son of a zookeeper, who is lost at sea along with a menagerie of animals after a shipwreck en route to Canada.

Martel’s tale is a fantastical journey of how Patel, played by newcomer Suraj Sharma, learns to cope with the surviving animals in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

If the trailer released today is any indication — showing a life-like snarling Bengal tiger, an almost dreamlike Pacific Ocean setting and a stunning closing shot of a humpback whale breaching alongside Patel’s boat — the movie is set to capture the visceral and poetic elements of the book.

Martel, who spent time in Canada as the son of diplomats and now lives in Saskatoon, has won several awards for the fantasy novel, including the Man Booker Prize in 2002.

U.S. President Barack Obama is reported to have written and signed a letter to Martel calling Pi “an elegant proof of God, and the power of storytelling.”

Life of Pi is set to be released Nov. 21, 2012.