Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World: Review By ParkWilliams

A stylish, comedic ode to the nerd in all of us, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a bold and expressive celebration of modern culture wrapped around a cross genre action movie/ romantic comedy, and it all works. There is so much to love in this film and it all comes bursting to the surface in a dazzling display of impressive, stylized visual elements and ineffaceable musical selections.

While the film does contain several major deviations from it's graphic novel counterpart, most notably in its finale, it still works well as an adaptation. It adopts the same quirky visual elements, using brightly coloured onomatopoeias to accompany sound effects, labels with humourous descriptions to introduce characters, and numerous animations and titles reminiscent of classic video games. The characters are essentially unchanged from page to screen in terms of appearance, creating almost exact real life representations, and there is very little left out in terms of their respective personalities. All of these aspects are reason enough for fans to be satisfied despite the alterations from the original story. It's a great mix of entertaining events and characters that result an original film experience.

While the writing is good, the script often seems to lean heavily on its humour to carry movie. The more exclusive nature of some of the comedy and the exaggerated visuals and characters lead me think of this movie as more of a cult classic than something that's widely accessible. Some of the more outlandish moments, such as Matthew Pattel's (Satya Bhabha) little musical number, can get a little too over the top, but make no mistake, much of the outrageously entertaining tone of the comics translates well onto film and it's delivered almost impeccably.

While a small number of side characters are underwhelming, the comic delivery of the films leads is generally very good. Michael Cera may be a one trick pony, but he does his one trick so well that it almost doesn't matter. His boyish charm and coy modesty make him the perfect Scott Pilgrim, and as long as he's cast in the right roles I never get tired of his trademark humour. I was actually surprised to see several other more notable names in the picture along with Cera. Chris Evans was one, playing a great Lucas Lee, and one of the strongest supporting actors. I was also surprised to see Brandon Routh as Todd Ingram, though I found his performance disappointingly bland. Jason Schwartzman makes an appearance as Gideon Graves, delivering a perfectly smug and narcissistic display. But as far as I'm concerned, the real star among the supporting cast is Kieran Culkin as Scott's hilarious gay roommate Wallace Wells, never ceasing to entertain with his sarcastic manner and blunt delivery.

The film knows its target audience, and it appeals highly to us twenty somethings still growing into our roles as adults, because just like Scott Pilgrim (Micheal Cera) and Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) we are still figuring life out. The film leaves some of these deeper undercurrents undeveloped, such as finding your place in the world and the nature of committed relationships, marking some of the most notable breaks from the comics, and what was to me one of the more disappointing aspects of the movie. It leans more toward the amusement and entertainment value than the sentimentality of the graphic novel. As good as the movie is, it lacks the same heart. Despite all of that however, it's still a great movie, and there really isn't anything you can easily compare it to. It stands as an original masterpiece that fans like myself will still love long after it's forgotten.