Scott Pilgrim rocks faces
By Matthew Gomez
The Guardsman
“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” begins with an 8-bit picture of the Universal Pictures logo. Since 8-bit animations are becoming a trend, as evidenced by the PS3 game “3D Dot Heroes” and the many new YouTube videos circulating the Internet, it was unclear whether the movie would be a series of clichés or actually live up to the quirky excitement shown in the trailer.
Based on the comic by Bryan Lee O’Malley, the movie follows Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) as he tries to win the heart of Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Flowers has seven evil exes – not “ex-boyfriends,” she makes clear – whom Pilgrim, 22, must defeat. This is the central idea from which the plot expands.
The movie is definitely funny. It’s a nice break from the comedy of the Judd Apatow team, which has been dominating the genre for the past few years. While there aren’t any hilarious, laugh-out-loud scenes, a consistent string of clever, “laugh-to-yourself” moments keeps the audience entertained.
“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” is intended to feel just like a comic book. If a phone rings, the word “Ring” is projected from the phone across the screen. In one scene Pilgrim is hitting his head against a telephone pole and the word “Thonk” appears with every impact. Thankfully, this sort of thing doesn’t happen enough to become annoying.
The soundtrack is also surprisingly good. With contributors like Frank Black (of Pixie’s fame), Beck and Metric, music plays a significant role in the movie. Pilgrim even plays bass in a band, Sex Bob-omb.
The biggest problem with the movie is that it’s hard to picture Michael Cera as anyone other than George Michael from “Arrested Development.” While he doesn’t ruin the movie with his presence, the type-casted role of lovable loser he has adopted, makes it a difficult to believe he would get so far with Ramona Flowers – to second base, according to Pilgrim, or “first and a half,” as he corrects himself.
Aside from that, the movie is great. Hardcore fans of the comic might not appreciate this cinematic re-enactment, but hardcore fans of anything generally feel this way when a movie version is released – except for Twilight fans, although scientists still haven’t proven that they’re real.