Pictures and videos make this look much more attractive, head over to SFX-360.com for the uncut review of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
When you’re a suave ladykiller playing bass in a band with your best friends then you’ve got it made right? What could possibly through a wrench in the smooth machine that you call life? Well when you fall for that hot babe and inadvertently become entangled in a fight to the death against her “7 Evil Exes” then let’s just say that your life needs a little maintenance. It’s a great thing that you happen to be Scott Pilgrim and you come “tailor made” to deliver well deserved ass kickings wherever they’re called for. This is Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
Based on a series of comic books written by Bryan Lee O’Mally, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World presents the story of Scott Pilgrim a 22 year old bassist in the band Sex Bob-omb. After a grueling break up months before the start of the movie Scott is now healing his heart with the attention of a 17 year Chinese schoolgirl by the name of Knives Chau. However, his world is flipped upside down when he sees the girl of his dreams (literally) Ramona Flowers, but he soon realizes that winning her heart will not be the easiest task he’s ever undertaken. In order to win the heart of Ramona Flowers and to preserve the right to date her he must fight AND defeat her 7 evil exes.
Ready…Fight!
The main allure of Scott Pilgrim vs the World lies in it’s over the top presentation. It’s a hyper active, schizophrenic, chaotic experience from start to finish. From the minute the movie starts you realize that the world of Scott Pilgrim is a videogame brought to life. Words and sounds spring to life in vibrant colors and textures throwing subtlety into the face of the unprepared. Everything about this movie is excessive, designed to incite laughter with its inane and often slapstick humor. But at the same time it all holds together extremely well. It is genuinely funny without feeling worn out over the course of the story and this is a big feat considering its taken six digest sized comics (each about 160 pages) and truncated them into about a two hour movie. This movie would have been a complete shock to my system had it been a videogame movie, but fortunately (or unfortunately if you wanted the shock) it’s actually based on a comic series which actively parodies videogames.
One of the major highlights from the movie comes from the fights that Scott must undergo with Ramona’s evil exes. The fights themselves are just extremely random and really show off the comic book/videogame style that makes the movie so animated. It also makes you wonder why everyone who dates this girl seems to have some form of super power or skill. During the very first battle Scott is caught off guard by Ramona’s very first ex, but instead of this being an awkward encounter strewn with confused stares and unprepared banter, he rises to the challenge and greets his first opponent with a forearm block and a punch to the face! All accentuated by an awesome videogame-esque perspective and animation.
One thing I learned while watching this movie; Vegans are just better than everyone else.
Outside of all of the action and comedy strewn seamlessly throughout the movie there is also a rather interesting romantic element that runs beneath it all. It’s not so pervasive that the movie becomes a love story, but it really adds perspective and gives the main characters a little more personality beyond the, “I must defeat this person for the sake of” type of personality. As a result a lot of the characters seem a lot more relatable. The hot chick that you would fight to keep, the crazy girl who stalks you wherever you go, the best friends that seem a little off but are always there for you, and the crazy vegetarian guy who can put wholes in the moon and knock highlights out of people’s hair. It really runs the gamut of character types and successfully flushes them out adding some layers to what would otherwise be hollow, stock characters.
All in all, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is an amazing adventure. It’s a story of love held together by a lot of action, comedy, and awesome artistic approach. Its probably more relevant to the younger crowds, I’m sure all of the videogame references would fluster a more “mature” person, but at the same time it has more than enough redeemable qualities to keep it entertaining for everyone. This is a must see at any time in any crowd because if it doesn’t cause excessive laughter for its entirety, then its awesome fights and romantic tale will keep you entertained for the rest of the time. Maybe this is the movie that will finally get Michael Cera out of those teen drama movies that he keeps getting cast for. But I digress. It’s out in theaters now! Go watch it!
KO!
(And for reviewing sake this movie gets 5 out of 5 stars and a 94 out of 100, it’s just that good)
