Movie Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Three weeks ago, the boyfriend and I got tickets to go to a preview screening of Scott Pilgrim Vs, The World but since there was a long, long line, we didn't get to see the movie and we were cooped up almost the entire past weekend, so I suggested to go see it at a theater in the far side of West Philly, a place I've never been before and it didn't turn out so bad.

It was kinda rainy yesterday and for some reason all the shops seems to have closed early and the neighborhood was a bit deserted. There was only about a dozen people in the theater. We were bummed out when a young mom were dragging four screaming children inside, but she came in and out a few times, so overall it was a surprisingly good viewing experience. Plus there's a nice Korean mart nearby with a nice food court.

23 years old Scott Pilgrim is walking around on the streets of Toronto with a chip on his shoulder from his last break-up, to get over his old flame he is casually dating an impressionable 17 yo Chinese girl in the form of Knives Chau much to his sister's, friend's and bandmates' chagrin. In the peak of his loneliness, Scott dreamt of a girl on rollerblades, and later this girl materialized as the form of Ramona Flowers. To live happily ever after with this girl of his dreams, Scott must defeat her 7 evil exes.

Scott Pilgrim is actually a very quirky film shot in a very anime-y and video game-y style that stayed true to the original comic series. It's funny, likable, stylish and entertaining, it hits enough geek points to make it an instant classic. The love story between Scott and Ramona is somewhat unconvincing, actually to have so many women falling for Scott in itself is not too convincing, there's no obvious traits about Michael Cera/Scott Pilgrim that's alluring. They should really spend some time explaining why a girl like Ramona would fall for Scott, and how they have bonded enough for Scott to deem going through the trouble to fight her 7 exes worthy.

Other than defeating the first ex fair and square, there were a lot of trickery involved, Scott also depended on a lot of help from his friends. Up to a point, there seems to be a rush going through all 7 exes. It is, however, visually stimulating. I even enjoyed the few rock songs even though it's not my genre of music. The special effects are great. The movie in general is cute and fun. The moral of the story or the lesson to be learned seems to be a bit forced but I left with a feeling of being entertained and thought of my own share of evil exes. B