My wife and I got to see an advance screening of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World last night. Let me be clear: I have not been so excited for a movie since Revenge of the Sith. The difference here, however, is that ROTS disappointed me to an extent, while this movie did not. At all. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is, without equal, the best happy movie I’ve ever seen. Which is to say, it isn’t better than, say, District 9, but as far as movies that actually leave you in a good mood afterward, SPvTW wins forever.
Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way. First:
Michael Cera, all right?
There’s a lot of concern that Michael Cera is a bad fit for the lead role. Good news: He’s just fine. He does not play George Michael Bluth in this movie. He plays Scott Pilgrim. That said, the character of Scott Pilgrim is both written and portrayed somewhat more meekly than in the book, but given the nature of the adaptation, it works just. Fine.
Which brings us to the second obvious concern: the adaptation. We’ll use one paragraph for this and no more. I hate it when people dwell on this stuff as much as you do.
If you’re a fan of the books, you will spend the first hour in an uncontrolled SQUEE. Bring a sock to the theater and keep it in your involuntarily squeaking pie hole until halfway through the Todd battle. That’s the point where the shot-for-panel faithfulness diverges a bit, which makes sense: Up until we meet Envy in the books, the subplots are more tightly woven into the main story. After that, slightly more disposable. And so, the movie damn near mirrors the first three books, and takes liberal liberties with the second three. Most subplots are gone, all characters are less complex, things get shuffled. The Katayanagi fight is completely changed — Scott does not get to fight robots, sadly. That and Kim Pine’s deceptively complex character in the books being woefully reduced to little more than the bitchy drummer in the movie count as some serious missed opportunities (though we do still get some pretty sweet shit for the Katayanagi twins battle). Overall, the movie is faithful enough. That said, if you’re the type who gets his panties in a bunch over the Harry Potter movies, you’re not gonna feel much better here.
But get over it. Please. This is a fucking marvelous film.
If you don’t know the books, it all starts off normal enough. Scott’s in a band, Scott meets a girl, Scott tries to get the girl to like him then meets another girl and uh oh is this a rom-com? Oh, cute, there’s little comic booky effects CGIed in. That’s kinda cool. Oh but then a guy crashes through the ceiling, challenges Scott to a fight, “VS.” flashes on the screen, Scott juggles his adversary in the air for a 64 HIT COMBO, he bursts into coins, there’s points, what the fuck?
That’s when you realize: This is the most epicly epic bit of epic win you’ve ever epicked. It’s silly, nostalgic, bright, flashy, and beautiful. Rarely does anyone manage to portray such an unbelievable world with such realism. The suspension of disbelief is so well crafted, the thought that a vegan with mystical powers could turn into money when you headbutt him makes perfect sense. It’s the funnest form of sensory overload you’ll ever see.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is probably the best timed movie in the history of timing. The youngest of the generation that was bred to eat this film up, the kids like me, born between 1975 and 1985, raised on video games, sugary cereal, and anime, are just now at the point where they have more disposable income than they know what to do with. Five years ago, half of us would still be poor college students, and five years from now, half of us will be poor parents. But today, we have money, and a geeky itch that loves a good scratchin’.
We will consume this with reckless abandon.
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