I recently read that Director Edgar Wright was granted permission to use the theme music of the classic NES game The Legend of Zelda in his fast paced and franticly fun new film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World by simply writing a letter to Nintendo and calling it "the nursery rhyme of this generation." What a cool guy.
Of course anyone familiar with Mr. Wright's body of work would know this already. His pop culture infused television series Spaced is one of my favorite short lived shows. I just watched it again recently for the umpteenth time. He is also capable of brilliantly sending up zombie (Shaun of the Dead) and cop (Hot Fuzz) films that manage to poke fun and pay homage simultaneously. He seemed a natural to helm this 8-bit romance.
Anyone who has or continues to play in a second rate garage band, dreams of winning the heart of the elusive emo chick, or has wasted countless hours of their precious little life on games of the video persuasion will have found a new home in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. This is the kind of film where animated hearts flutter around kissing characters, and villains explode into bus fare once defeated. Needless to say, I enjoyed myself quite a bit.
Scott (Michael Cera) has just found the girl of his dreams, and unfortunately for him it isn't Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), the seventeen year old he has just begun a puppy love fling with. The object of his (true) affection is Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). The new girl in town that changes boyfriends about as often as she changes her hair color, which is once every week and a half. Scott learns the hard way that in order to rescue this Princess Peach he must first defeat her seven evil exes. His first opponent turns out to be as difficult to knock out as Glass Joe, but the challenges only grow from there with events like a Bass-off and a sword duel. The fact that not all of these fights involve fists keeps the action fresh. (Note: If you have no idea who Princess Peach and Glass Joe are you may want to stop reading now. This film is clearly not for you.)
Based on the series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley, this film is remarkably faithful to the source material. It is also overloaded with energy and goofiness. I chuckled a great deal at its inventiveness, and found that it doesn't take itself too seriously. It is clear that its main objective is simply to entertain, and entertain it does. Its target audience will love it... that is if they are able to pry themselves away from the new Madden this weekend. B+
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