I've got to say, when I first saw the Scott Pilgrim books there was something that kept me away and at the same time attracted my eye; It's hard to explain. Then I heard about the Movie and the plot, it was still not enough to get me to check it out. Then I heard the buzz around it in Video Game Land... and I looked in to it. After the trailer, I got interested in the book, after issue one I was hooked.Before I get too far in to this, I'd like to start by saying you should all go see the movie. The box office is too content with blockbuster popcorn flicks like The Expendables that movies like Scott Pilgrim vs The World are getting glazed over. So everyone make it a point to go see Scott Pilgrim in theaters; I'll try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible.
Scott Pilgrim is a book series turned movie by Bryan Lee O'Malley that centers around the romantic trials of title character Scott Pilgrim. Scott represents one of the more positive examples of the indie culture; The Slacker in a Garage Band. He's confident, lazy, and aside from a lax sensibility towards relationships is always able to charm a girl into liking him. I don't know what it is about us artists, but we always seem to write this type of quirky yet charming character at some point in our life. The difference here is that while most writers tend to force the two characters together, the writing in Scott Pilgrim manages to make it all seem natural. Scott really is a charming individual and doesn't just get by on quirkiness, this ties in well with the fact that he's also a jerk; seems to me like the two go hand in hand in real life.
Our other Main Character, Ramona Flowers, turns our to be the one girl who completely changes Scott and how he deals with his life. Ramona herself is a really complicated character until the end of the series, very secretive about key parts of her past; especially when it comes to her exes whom all seem to hold a grudge against her for reasons she's not ready to admit until late in the story. It's this mysterious nature that captures Scott's interest; he pretty much falls for her the moment she starts using his dreams as a Hyperspace shortcut to make deliveries.
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Confused yet? If there's anyone I wouldn't suggest this movie to it would be those without hands on the pulse of the modern world. If you still can't work a cell phone and Pac-Man still perplexes you then this movie will be a solid 2 hours of "What on earth is going on?!" For the rest of us, almost every moment is a callback to some aspect of our younger years playing video games and listening to rock music; using the aesthetics and laws of retro style games to contextualize the rocky road of a relationship far better then your standard romance movie could. See, Ramona's past involved her being a bit of a bitch to her former lovers; In a fit of rage her most recent ex assembles 6 of the broken hearts she's left in her wake in a vain attempt to control her future love life. Once they get wind of Scott's interest in her they start coming after him one at a time in a tournament fashion akin to Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. As long as Scott dates Ramona they'll be after his head, which only proves to be a motivator for Scott and fixes his assurance that if he's willing to fight for this girl, then she is most assuredly the one.
This series is simply ripe with lovable characters and great humor. While the feel of the movie is catering to the heart of indie culture and trying to explain the plot in a single sentence makes it sound like an after school Nickelodeon special; The series pants a more realistic word just in the way characters react to their emotions and environment then Avatar could with their multimillion doller equipment. It's a key trait that really separates movies like The Expendables, a movie destined to fade away in to obscurity in time, from a movie like Scott Pilgrim vs The World, which is sure to become a cult classic. Scott Pilgrim vs The World is not only a great example of fantastic character writing, which is expanded upon in the Graphic Novel original, but it's also a great example of how Movie Interpretations should be done; Which is funny, because usually when people change the ending, even partially, people start fuming. Not the case here, even though a couple key aspects were dropped or changed the movie and the ending still felt like the same story.
Nothing's perfect though; If you want to get the full Scott Pilgrim experience you really need to check out the books. There are 6 volumes in print, each one containing one evil ex battle and chapters and chapters of character development not easily squashed into one 2hr movie. In turn, the movie feels very rushed and some of the characters are grazed over to leave time for Scott, Ramona, and a few of the Ancillary characters. This goes the same for a couple of the evil exes who's histories with Ramona are outright ignored to save on time.So while not the perfect movie, it's more worth a view then the blockbuster 3D films out there. The effects and writing makes it all worth the time.
Needless to say, Scott Pilgrim will take what ever your Expectations are and turn them in to a pile of coins; maybe even an extra life if you score high enough.
All Images are pulled from the Scott Pilgrim Graphic Novels published by Oni Press.
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One last note, to make a comment about the Video Game tie in; I've haven't played it yet, but that's because it's only available on PSN and XBOX Arcade. While I'm willing to shell out $10 for the game... I'm not as willing to spend $200 - $300+.
To the developers of the game, please release this for the PC via download or Steam. If you do, I'd be eternally grateful.
