Be a good little Pilgrim and see this Movie

While many movies try to create the nostalgia for classic video games and comic books through references and in-jokes, few movies truly capture the feeling of actually being in a classic video game or comic book. It’s not hard to see why, since they're two very different visual forms of story telling. But Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is the very equivalent these two mediums fused together and turned into a movie. To the point in where it’s as if someone videotaped a video game being played and put the footage on screen. The result is a quirky and silly ride that’s a complete laugh riot.

Based on the Scott Pilgrim comic series, the film follows Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), an apathetic hipster slacker who plays bass for the up and coming band Sex Bob-omb. He shares a apartment with his better off and annoyingly sarcastic gay roommate Wallace (Kieran Culkin) and is dating an impressionable high schooler named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), though their relationship is very one sided as she adores him and he sees her more as someone he can simply call a girlfriend. At a party one night he meets Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a cool pink haired girl from New York who keeps appearing in his dreams. He instantly falls for her and awkwardly pursues her, where eventually she starts to like him back. But at a battle of the bands event he’s attacked by Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha), the first of Ramona’s exes. After an intense fight, in which Matthew is reduced to coins, Ramona informs Scott that in order for them to date he will have to defeat her seven evil exes. A few of the other exes are the “vegan power” aided Todd (Brandon Routh), the angry half ninja Roxie (Mae Whitman) and the egotistical mastermind Gideon (Jason Schwartzman).

As previously stated this movie feels as if you’re in the world of a video game. Information bars appear whenever a new character is introduced. Characters move from one vastly different location to another in mid conversation. The fights are extremely exaggerated, with fighters being punched thirty feet into the air and getting up with out a scratch, the exes and Scott having super human powers, and Scott getting prizes and power-ups whenever an ex is defeated. It makes for a very fun and zany ride.

Though Michael Cera again plays a hapless geeky guy, this time he adds a bit of a jerk quality to his performance. Though the difference is subtle, it’s nice to see a departure from his usual repertoire. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays her role mysteriously cool, never letting us entirely in but always leaving us wanting more. The two standouts though, and again proving the rule that the supporting characters are usually the most memorable, are Kieran Culkin as Wallace and Ellen Wong as Knives Chau. Culkin is delightfully selfish, displaying a charm that makes the audience root for him even when he’s a complete dick. And Wong is a real treat. Her ability to seamlessly go from sweetly excitable to obsessively starkerish is adorable to watch. Hopefully we see more of this bubbly actress in the near future.

All in all Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a huge treat for movie goers to experience. The only bad thing about the movie is that more people aren’t gong to see it. Hopefully people realize the ride of the summer they are missing and go see this movie. You won’t be disappointed.