Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was, for a long time, one of my favorite movies. Although I had read the first book of the comic series released by Bryan Lee O’Malley a little before the movie officially released, I wasn’t necessarily “in” on Scott Pilgrim until the movie came out. A star-studded cast under the direction of Edgar Wright, one of my favorite directors, had the ‘Wright’ amount of charm to bring the characters’ personalities to life in a way that I found more endearing than the trashy way I had them in my head.
But don’t get me wrong; the characters in Scott Pilgrim are, for the most part, trashy people. It says something to me about the strength of the casting choices and the cast direction that so many inherently flawed and, at times, hurtful resentful people could shine through in a fun, quirky way that made you love them as much as hate them.
Since the movie release in 2010, there have been a couple Scott Pilgrim releases with a well-received video game, fully colorized versions of the original book run and bits of pieces of the characters here and there. There has yet to be a true follow-up on either the original book run or movie release, however, that expands on the universe.
Until Now.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was announced earlier this year as a Netflix exclusive to, at least in my circles, widely spread excitement. An animated mini-series on the comic has yet to be done and while this was to provide a new story based on both the movies as well as the comics, the really impressive announcement was that the ENTIRE ORIGINAL MOVIE CAST were coming back to voice their character roles. The cast that brought life to a (in my opinion at the time) semi-lifeless property were finally getting the opportunity to bring the original comic style the voice it deserved.
This is where my first, and only, issue starts. The voice acting in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is lackluster in a way I was not initially prepared for. I understand it’s likely that the voice direction given was to subdue the characters, since they are supposed to be semi-normal people, but for animation to be somewhat monotone and “realistic” felt like a shock at first. Part of this is due to the unrealistic expectation set by the movie; Wright’s direction to be somewhat more over-the-top was a good way to “animate” live-action scenes and acting, not to mention the literal use of some animation. Since the series is animated and can inherently bring us into the tone and mindset that this isn’t to be taken too seriously, they are taking the opposite approach and having the actors subdue the voices to ground it a bit more. While this is something I understand and can appreciate, it took about 3 episodes to get used to… and I won’t say I ever fell in love with it.
In contrast, the writing and dialogue is top-notch; there are multiple times that made me laugh out loud and in general had a smile on my face. The direction the story goes is more of a mystery where each episode unearths a little more about the main plot point but also focuses on a character or two that never got to have a moment to shine in the other properties. There is a lot of heart in the production of this series and I feel that it shines through in every second, especially at the end.
However, I will never forgive them for snubbing Scott’s real love for all time, Lisa Miller.
