In a world where vegans get special powers for being vegan and people can literally burst into coins, a certain Canadian has a hard time getting the girl in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. This story tells the tale of the awkward and dorky Scott Pilgrim as he tries to defeat the seven evil exes of his new love interest, Ramona Flowers. While also dealing with old flames, being a cool bassist in his band, and dealing with his psycho high schooler ex-girlfriend Knives Chao.
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World started out as a series of six graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley in 2004. Readers of the series had mixed feelings of whether or not their book was going to have justice served with the movie came out in August of 2010.
Actor Michael Cera did an amazing job as Scott Pilgrim, as both he and his character are the epitome of what it means to be awkward. They are also both Canadian- it can’t get any better than that, but it does! Kieran Culkin (yes, he’s related to the kid from Home Alone) also did a fabulous job as Wallace Wells the ever so sarcastic gay roommate. His characterization and portrayal was just awesome. Because he demonstrated that he understood the character, by his mannerisms and line delivery.
The casting was done beautifully and there is a wonderful flow created in the film by the actors and their character portrayal. The acting and the graphics also connect to one another fluidly. Even if the scenes aren’t exactly like the book, they’re perfect for the movie; one scene included actor Chris Evans as ex-boyfriend Lucas Lee skateboarding down a rather long rail and bursting into coins at the end of his not so joyful ride, and Scott obtained his skateboard which basically did the Legend of Zelda item obtainment thing. The way the actors take on their characters is superb. I don’t see the actors, I see the characters, which is what’s supposed to happen as audiences find themselves completely submerged in the movie.
Not only was the acting believable, but the effects crew was spot on as well. The visuals, such as the the level up graphics , the bursting of people into coins, use of text bubbles above the actors, to the ever so smashing fight scenes that add a comic book flare to the movi making it feel like the original graphic novel.
The movie also has a video game feel to it that makes nerds and non-nerds love the movie all the same, with references toward different video games and other geek culture that pulls people in with every ‘1-UP’.
Speaking of music, the soundtrack added to the overall tone throughout the movie, whether it be from the book or original compositions. They did an amazing job of incorporating a punk rock feel into the movie in the same way way the books did by incorporating different sounds of punk rock and chiptune throughout the movie. They even had the bass tabs from the beginning of the first book in the beginning of the movie and that just made me, and other fans of the book series, immensely happy.
The best thing about this movie is that it’s true to the book series. From the seven evil ex’s, to the music that was in the book, the movie adaptation did it’s job from taking the story from the pages to the big screen. I commend director and co-writer Edgar Wright and his team on this because they took elements from all six books and put them into 112 minutes of pure amazingness.
Overall the movie is almost flawless, causing the Scott Pilgrim fandom to rejoice at how the movie didn’t ruin the franchise like other book-turned-movie titles. Moviegoers have to admit, the book-turned-movie genre is kind of gross, but this is a prime example of how it can be done successfully.
