Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a videogame movie even though it’s based on a comic, and that’s why this visually impressive cinematic adaptation ultimately fails.
A stereotypical videogame provides hours of mind-numbing fun, challenging players to conquer foes, complete missions or rescue princesses in order to win. More often than not, videogame plots are less than half-baked, with characters as two-dimensional as 16-bit sprites. I’d describe director Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim movie just about the same way.
Even quirky actor Michael Cera can’t pull off an interesting Scott Pilgrim, the carefree 23-year-old Canadian heartthrob intoxicated with new girl in town Ramona Flowers (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead). After an awkward first encounter with Ramona and a semi-successful date, Scott learns that in order to win his dream girl’s heart, he must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends, videogame-style.
As you can imagine, this extraordinary premise provides a platform for some of the most visually inventive (and goofy) fight sequences you’ll ever see in a movie. The PG-13 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which hits theaters Friday, doles out plenty of flashy eye treats and nostalgic Nintendo videogame tunes. But Scott and Ramona’s relationship gets very little screen time. As a result, the movie feels tragically superficial.
Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers' relationship gets short shrift in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
Images courtesy Universal PicturesFans of the graphic novel will probably be disappointed. Written by Bryan Lee O’Malley, the six-volume Scott Pilgrim series from Oni Press garnered a massive cult following consisting of a mishmash of comic book/videogame nerds and the cool kids who rocked out to indie music when they were in high school. You could call the Scott Pilgrim books the hipster’s Harry Potter, a generational treasure with animated dialogue and drawings so alive and energetic that every character nearly bounces off the page.
Scott and Ramona’s tumultuous-yet-adorable relationship provides the hook for the graphic novels: The couple’s hardships seem brutally relatable to anyone who’s weathered a rocky relationship. They were like the Jim and Pam of comics — so right for each other, even though all the circumstances seemed wrong.
Readers followed the ups and downs of Scott and Ramona’s romance gradually in a story arc that spanned just over a year, with videogame-esque fights popping up only occasionally as a special move to shove the plot forward.
You get a version of that story played in “ludicrous speed” in the movie. Almost immediately after meeting his princess, Scott is catapulted into a series of computer-generated fights with one bizarre ex after another: a vegan with superpowers, a lesbian dressed up as a gothic ninja, a pair of Asian twins who can create demons out of electronic music, etc.
The script is punchy, but the ADD-like pacing lifted straight from the comic doesn’t quite work on the screen, and it only distances us further from the romantic relationship the movie revolves around. Altogether, the events of the entire movie get scrunched into a few days — why should we care about Scott and Ramona if all they have is a forgettable fling?
The Scott Pilgrim comic and movie emerge during an interesting time, when technologists and scholars debate whether videogames will ever become respected as art. Supporters argue that an artistic renaissance is inevitable for gaming now that both independent and major software developers have viable platforms such as the iTunes App Store to sell their wares. All sorts of creative talents will soon pour their genius into richly interactive gaming environments, or so the thinking goes.
Skeptics like Roger Ebert have already declared videogames will never be art, arguing that “no one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great poets, filmmakers, novelists and poets.” To add to Ebert’s argument (without agreeing with him), there has also never been a good movie based on a videogame. (See: The Legend of Chun Li, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter.)
Perhaps the debate on art should focus not on the medium but rather the source. The original, independently drawn Scott Pilgrim proved that a moving story could be portrayed through the framing of two “low art” forms — a videogame and a comic. But the Scott Pilgrim movie screens like a Hollywood-produced videogame using real-life actors and CGI to provide amusing fight scenes for a trashy summer movie not worth your coins.
WIRED Gratuitous Zelda and Mario references will tickle your inner geek; Jason Schwartzman finally plays a less self-deprecating role; “He punched the highlights out of her hair!” = funniest line ever.
TIRED Winstead’s Ramona Flowers is a boring ice queen; movie’s pacing is even more awkward than Cera’s Scott Pilgrim; unnecessary racial jab at Asians (“Shut up, Kung Pao chicken”) isn’t remotely as funny as Harold and Kumar‘s “Zip it, Hello Kitty.”
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