'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World' Early Review Roundup

by Jordan Yerman | August 4, 2010 at 09:03 am

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Scott Pilgrim vs The World Opens August 13 in North America

One of the most hotly-anticipated (and geeky) movies of the summer, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, opens on August 13. Aside from some lucky Comic-Con attendees, a few writers were able to catch a sneak preview, and so we have some early Scott Pilgrim reviews, all of which are positive.

'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World' Trailer

Scott Pilgrim is a Faithful Sketch of Overall Story

Being a comic-book adaptation, Scott Pilgrim fans would be approaching the movie both as a standalone story and a comparison to source material that they care about. Sort of like how Watchmen fans were divided over that film's adaptation. In condensing six books into less than two hours of film, a lot of backstory and character development gets left behind, while the film seems to focus on the more spectacular fight sequences (Scott Pilgrim must defeat Ramona Flowers' seven exes in order to win her heart).

According to Chris Mautner at Robot 6, the problem is that the viewer becomes unsure what Scott sees in Ramona, or why Ramona likes Scott in the first place. While the video-game stylings are fun to watch, they need to be rooted in real relationships.

That's kind of a problem, since one of the big themes in the series (as I interpret it anyway) involves Scott realizing that the world does not in fact revolve around him. Scott is charming, but he can be callous and selfish in his treatment of his friends and lovers, a fact which O'Malley often underscores by focusing on other characters' back stories, Kim's in particular.

Bilal Mian at Poptimal digs the action sequences, describing it as the best video game adaptation ever, even if it's not actually based on a game. While acknowledging that the overall story is weakened by squeezing everything into so relatively short a running time, Mian still gives it an A+.

Comparing the movie to the book series, fans will be very well pleased with the film’s adaptation. The characters are true to their nature that O’Malley crafted in the series. I honestly believe Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is the best comic book movie made to date, purists might not.

Jordan Hoffman at UGO agrees, calling Scott Pilgrim "an epic win".

Cole Abaius at Film School Rejects liked it as well, but a "rushed feel" kept it from earning a solid A.

Director Edgar Wright makes Attention Deficit Disorder into a thing of beauty here – tossing out convention while playing around with it.

Comic-book and video-game theming has been seen in movies before, such as Crank, Wanted, Amelie, and Nightwatch.

However, Toronto rarely gets to play itself in movies, often acting as a stand-in for New York or Los Angeles. The Scott Pilgrim series, though, was very Toronto-specific, as was the trailer, so this is another chance for movie fans to get a glimpse at one of the most diverse cities in the world, even when it's covered in snow.