When I heard they were making a “Scott Pilgrim” movie, I was excited. As a comic geek I knew the original Bryan O’Malley series pretty well, and to have a movie made out of a comic of that level was unprecedented. But I grew concerned when I heard it was going to be live-action. Couldn’t it be animated in the style of the original comics? The designs would lend themselves perfectly to that!
…But all my fears dissolved when I heard Edgar Wright was directing. I’m just gonna say it: Edgar Wright is my favorite comedy director working today. “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” are two of my all-time favorite comedies. He gets that the point of comedy is to laugh. It helps to have some heart thrown in, but really you’re there to bust a gut. He takes the basic theory of movies like “Airplane!” and “Blazing Saddles” (another two of my favorite comedies) by just BOMBARDING YOU with jokes.
Think about how many jokes are in “Shaun of the Dead” or “Hot Fuzz”. Big jokes, little jokes, subtle jokes, not-so-subtle jokes, obvious jokes, inside jokes, you name it! Not only is this good for the initial theater experience, but it makes it fun to re-watch on DVD to catch all the stuff you missed the first time. The original comics were the same way, with tons of little stuff scrawled into the margins. When I heard “Scott Pilgrim” was in his hands, I put my fears to rest. Edgar Wright hasn’t let me down yet and I see no reason he’d let me down now.
I confess I DID get a little skittish when I saw the initial trailers and saw they had even kept in the sound effects from the original books. I get nervous/annoyed when movies try to actually LOOK like comic books. One of my most loathed movies is Ang Lee’s “Hulk” because of the way he’d cut and edit it to make the film transition like comic book panels. A little message to filmmakers in Hollywood: MAKE YOUR MOVIE LOOK LIKE A MOVIE, NOT A COMIC BOOK. When you’re translating a story from one medium to another, you should use the strengths OF that medium, not try to imitate another.
…But believe it or not, the use of the sound effects and all the other visual stuff didn’t really bother me as it did with Ang Lee’s “Hulk”, and I think I know why: “Scott Pilgrim” is a comedy. It doesn’t take itself seriously and is all about having fun. When you see the sound effects or the little video game references, you laugh. Ang Lee’s “Hulk” was trying to be DEAD serious, and the goofy visual style just killed any hope of that. With “Scott Pilgrim”, it’s a help rather than a hinderance.
In terms of a visceral comedy and action experience, “Scott Pilgrim” is a success. I brought a friend who’d never read any of the original books and she died laughing during the screening. I was almost jealous of her, experiencing it fresh for the first time. Having read the books I knew about the Pee Meter, and the Vegan Police, and Ramona’s subspace hammer. But my friend didn’t see any of that coming, and I’m sure it was a thrill.
I thought about nitpicking stuff I wish had made it into the film, but I already get enough of that from “Harry Potter” fans and I’m sick to death of that. When you translate something from book to film (even if its a comic book), you have to make the story flow in the context of a two-hour movie. This means stuff has to either get re-arranged, or cut out completely.
I will confess there was stuff I wished they had expanded on more (Nega Scott, Kim Pine, etc) and the story feels VERY compressed after the fight with the third evil ex-boyfriend (IMO the most spectacular fight of the movie), but I was still delighted with how much still made it in and how the ultimate points of certain plot lines were still made. A lot of the dialogue is taken verbatim from the books and even when it’s re-arranged it still works in the context they put it in.
Looking up recent box office figures, “Scott Pilgrim” sadly didn’t win about #1, which I knew wasn’t going to happen. It’s been a highly competitive summer for films, and the series has too much niche appeal to reach a very wide audience. Not to mention I’ve spoken to plenty of people who don’t have kind things to say about Michael Cera, and that might’ve put some people off. To those people: give him a chance. Yes “Juno” was overrated and “Year One” flat out sucked, but I don’t think he was at fault for either one of those. Just remember the Michael Cera from “Arrested Development” and “Superbad” and try to come into this with an open mind. I guarantee you’ll have a good time.
Though I doubt “Scott Pilgrim” will tear up theaters, I do predict that it will be VERY successful on DVD and I think it’ll creep in on people like a fungus (but in a good way). Oh, and the soundtrack rules. Highly recommended, see it if you can.
