Life of Pi is probably one of the best movies ever made. It is also one of those movies you'll only ever want to see once.
The Hobbit is typical mass marketed crap that will get played and seen again and again. Doesn't make it a good movie though. It's a business and they only need to make the orcs good enough to sale tickets. With that said, I'll go see the Hobbit and will probably watch it more than once.
The animation team that did the tiger in Life of Pi should win the best actor oscar, not the best special effects oscar, which is already in the bag for them. Even if they could train a real tiger to be in that movie, after filming it, it just wouldn't look as real or play as well.
In the end The Hobbit will make buckets loads of cash and Life of Pi will lose money. That is one difference between mass marketed garbage and a piece of art.