Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a fun, funny mash-up of movie, comic book and video game sensibilities. The story combines a romantic comedy with a fighting video game, and the film just runs full-tilt with the idea.
Every new relationship comes with baggage. In this case, the baggage happens to be Ramona Flowersā seven evil exes, who all want to fight Scott Pilgrim if heās going to date her. Fights are staged like video games, with āX vs Yā captions, physics-defying moves and special powers, and defeated opponents transforming into coins. Caption boxes provide extra information. Flashbacks are illustrated in comic-strip form.
Its biggest flaw, IMO, is that it tries so hard to fit all the battles into one movie that it forgets to slow down and show us that Scott and Ramona actually like each other (most of the time). Thereās no real sense of time, and it feels like the whole thing could happen in a week. So when the supporting cast starts asking Scott whether being with Ramona is really worth all the effort, itās a good question, one that makes the ultimate ending a bit less satisfying than the one in the original graphic novels.
The original comics tell the story over six volumes, which take place over roughly a year. Obviously side characters are developed a lot more. More importantly for the lead story, Ramona is developed a lot more, and you get to see the two of them dealing with an actual relationship, rather than simply āYouāre hot, wanna go out?ā āOh, okay.ā You get much more of a sense that the fights mean something. The later volumes also focus heavily on people growing up and growing apart, something which there really isnāt time for in the movie.
They also make it clear that Scott isnāt as great as he thinks he is. He does have the potential to become the next evil ex, after all.
The movie is great fun. If you liked it, I absolutely recommend picking up the graphic novels. If you liked the idea, but not the execution, or if you canāt stand Michael Cera (I know thatās a consideration for some people, and I had my doubts when I heard that heād been cast in the role), I recommend picking up the first volume or two to give it a try.
Update
The 2023 cartoon Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is even better. It benefits from more time (eight episodes vs. one movie), an infinite effects budget, and hindsight, and manages to tell a different, but closely related story while somehow being both wackier and more introspective.
Also, I wasnāt doing star ratings when I wrote this up for my blog back in 2010, but Iām retroactively giving it 4 stars.
Interesting Links
A fan tracked down the real-life locations in Toronto that Brian Lee OāMalley used as reference, then took photos to match them up with the comic panels. It reminds me of a story that OāMalley told at Comic-Con last(?) year about the movie production. They tried to use actual locations when possible, and at one point went to film a scene with a particular phone booth, only to find it had been torn out. They rebuilt the phone booth for the scene!
My Friday at Comic-Con included stumbling into OāMalleyās signing, spotting cosplay and window art, and completely missing the āScott Pilgrim Experience.ā (Though I did eventually pick up some āstuff.ā)
The movie trailer recreated with panels from the original comics.
Scott Pilgrim Versus The Unfortunate Tendency To Review The Audience ā If you donāt like the movie, thatās fineā¦but is it really necessary to insult the people who do like it?
Author Seanan McGuire explains why moviesā financial success matters to fans: Since Scott Pilgrim failed at the box office, similar movies arenāt going to be funded for quite a while. Iāve actually been meaning to write up something similar, but havenāt gotten around to it.
Years later, author John Scalzi describes why the movie is a perennial comfort watch, and goes into just how much of a mess all the characters are and how well it fits the mode of life in your 20s, still trying to figure out who you are, never mind who you want to be.
