The Definition Of Awesome: My Scott Pilgrim Review

I surf the 'Net a lot when I'm not in the Adobe Creative Suite designing something, but recently I've been falling off of my routine site visiting and blog reading. I made a pit stop at IGN Movies and saw a feature on this film called Scott Pilgrim vs. The World....looked interesting so I thought I'd take a peek. Once I saw the comic book-themed scenes and heard the video game sounds from Sonic and Mario (the "KO" sound especially), I was sold. Not long after that did I enter a contest to win a free screening pass for two courtesy of Advance Screenings (which everyone should follow on Twitter!), and got a phone call from a random number that I didn't answer, but left me a voicemail saying that I won my screening pass!

Talk about excited! I brought one of my friends with me to go see the movie last Thursday, and it definitely didn't disappoint. What I saw in the trailer is exactly what I got - Scott Pilgrim is a 22-year-old Canadian trying to romance an out-of-towner named Ramona Flowers, but in order to finally go out with her he has to defeat her seven evil exes....oh, and he's in a band; nothing more complicated than that, as the method in which he gets there is entertaining enough without a convoluted plot. From the opening digitized Universal opening screen, to the ending 8-bit music, I was captivated. The movie did a good job of easing those of us who aren't familiar with the Pilgrim into his world, replete with snarky text boxes and onomatopoeia. Speaking of that, the visible onomatopoeia is EVERYWHERE in this film - I'm sure the Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright and series creator Bryan Lee O'Malley went to great lengths to make the film look as much like a comic book as possible.





To be clear: this isn't the typical adaptation of a comic book like you would see a Spider-Man, X-Men or even a Barb Wire - you will see comic panels periodically and even digitized text and life bars! I was eager to watch this movie so the fast pacing of it will elude some, but I had no problem keeping up with the plot developments and the dialogue. The smaller jokes provide a welcome contrast to the visually dominant fight scenes, which will overload your senses with color and sound if you're not careful. Casting wise, I think they nailed it, but I'll be honest - I still give Brandon Routh a hard time because of the way he played Superman, but he did well for his role.

Talking to Mister Xavier this weekend after he'd seen it on Friday, he said that he'd read a review that said that Michael Cera didn't convey the "ass-kicking" side of Scott Pilgrim that he has in the comics - to which he retorted, "That's actually what makes it believable, the fact that it's someone who you wouldn't expect get to scrapping!" The film does what it's supposed to do, which I believe is successfully marry the worlds of video games, comic books, and a romantic comedy. It may scare off some people as being too nerdy or geeky, but if you've played an OUNCE of Nintendo or Sega Genesis in your life, you should be able to understand the sounds and visuals that they provide to move the story along.

I'm trying not to say anything to spoil it, but just know that if you're reading this "review", I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend that you go see this movie - combine that with the video game about the film/comic that I played with Sage, courtesy of T. Drake, and this intellectual property is an instant BUY on DVD.

GO SEE SCOTT PILGRIM!