Scott Pilgrim vs The Trailer

VS

A personal letdown is when I hold-off reading something for long periods of time only to go back when a movie adaptation is coming-up (bad darthvid, no twinkie!); It makes me feel dirty (“riding the trend train” dirty).

I read Precious Little Life shortly after vs The Universe got published (late in the game, I know) and basically liked it, found it funny, and appreciated the embedded video-game fan-service.  In spite of this, it got off my radar for quite a time… until this started doing the rounds:

Hmmm, interesting.

So, “finish the series prior to the movie release” was in order.  Amazingly, I re-read Precious Little Life (I hardly ever re-read fiction).  Even more amazing, I loved it far-far better after the re-read.  Whereas I originally found it a quirky video-game inspired fourth-wall romantic comedy, the re-read turned into a rich tapestry of real-world issues and dialogue, cultural references, a simple and functional art style that focuses on relaying emotions (very manga inspired. do not confuse with manga-looking/manga-ish, though it does happen occasionally), and a surprisingly tight form of character driven storytelling (something I’ve been looking for since Love★Com and School Rumble, and which I found lacking/delayed in Ouran; Scott Pilgrim is actually tighter all of those).

[whew, that paragraph took my breath away]

Needless to say, after going through all the books (as of writing, it stops at Vol 5, the final one due out on July this year), I’m a fan.  The work as a whole is so impressive  that I’ll actually re-read everything to better appreciate the subtleties and to dissect Bryan Lee O’Malley‘s visual and storytelling techniques (absolutely brilliant work, Brian!).  Apart from very few personal caveats, this body of work is an easy “recommend”, the recommendation only withheld to those who do not want (or are absolutely clueless on) videogame references as they might be alienated.  However, if you know Mario, Street Fighter, and basic concepts of RPGs, you’ll be fine.

Perhaps I’ll make a more detailed review of the comics after the last book comes out.  For now, let us move on to the trailer.

It’s interesting that the movie is really trying to capture the look and feel of the comic.  Some key panels seem faithfully translated to the movie as shown in the trailer.  I was gonna make comparisons but apparently someone beat me to it (and did a fantastic job at it too).

[some spoilers, but not much more than what the actual trailer spoiled already]

Of course, I’m not expecting things to be translated panel per panel (though it’s been done before), specially since you’re compressing 6 volumes of visual storytelling into a movie AND the movie completes the whole story while the last book isn’t even out yet (ergo: most likely different endings).  The trailer already hints at the shortcuts/divergence from the books (some of the dialogue, twins DJ battle), and I’m fearing that not enough of the character driven will come-out in such a short amount of time (the books had enough space and time time for the characters to properly grow).

[little spoiler end]

A little nitpick I have is the “zero/alpha counter” scene which is almost a perfect translation, but lacked the “REVERSAL” blurb [Scott Pilgrim Vol1].  It’s a vital Street Fighter reference, but either the trailer is incomplete, or they decided this might alienate some in the audience (“I already ‘get it’, it’s a comics/videogame reference I haven’t heard of! You don’t need to over-emphasize!”).  Apart from the inevitable plot shortcuts, its these divergences I’m worried about.  As faithful as they try to be, will the variances take away the charms of the most detailed in-jokes?

In spite of these nitpicks, the trailer does seem to imply that they are trying to translate the comic’s feel.  Will they pull it off properly? It remains to be seen.  I’m hoping that it captures enough of the emotion to make it more than another fun romp (I can’t really rely on a two hour movie to relay something that’ll take 6 volumes to develop).  Worse case, I hope they get the humor right so it’ll at least be a fun romp.

If you managed to read this far, are still interested, and somehow you still haven’t read the comic, GO READ IT NOW!!!

On a final note, I’m sorta’ worried of having Micheal Cera cast as Scott based on his previous roles; I’m not sure if it’s a match.  If he plays his typical past personalities, this might imply a variance from the comic I’ll be uncomfortable with.  Then again, Micheal Cera might turn out a brilliant performance and  show he can do more characters than his previous roles imply.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

sources:

• Scott Pilgrim site
• Scott Pilgrim movie site
• Scott Pilgrim Wikipedia entry
• Gamervision’s Scott Pilgrim Frame By Frame via io9.com
• /Film

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