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krpalmerIt may well end up as one of those "cult films" appreciated by a vocal yet economically unimpressive audience, but I decided to go and see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World at the movies for myself. The motivation for that may have come first of all from having read the original graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley, which I picked up on quite early, having been reading comics weblogs at the time. I got started on them so early, in fact, that when reading the first (and at that time the only) volume, I first thought "now this is an entry in the 'just hanging around in the real world, nothing much happening' graphic novel-genre I can get into at last," and then the first of the "evil ex-boyfriends" showed up... (I took a look back at the beginning of the volume and decided I must have missed the early touches of fantasy.) In any case, I kept following the series through to completion.
As I was contemplating going to the movie, though, I was sort of contemplating the whole "a comics work has arrived when it gets a live-action movie made" mentality, and thinking a bit that it would be something else had our culture shaped itself so that animation reproducing the appeal of the artist's style itself would be an equal option... but I suppose I'd say that the movie's own style wound up winning me over. The major ambiguity I seemed to have with the adaptation does seem sort of embarrassing to state, because it does seem so much like one you'd find in a lazy dismissal, but I suppose I have to say that to me, Michael Cera's voice seemed a whole lot milder than my mental impression of Scott Pilgrim in his "drawn" form, a single yet rather significant dissonant note in the middle of everything else that seemed just fine. By the end of the movie, though, I think I might have been getting used to him.
The reviews I'd read beforehand often made a big deal of the "8-bit video game feel" of the movie, and that was something about the graphic novels that might have just about had to have been pointed out to me, as I've never owned a dedicated video game console. In the movie itself, though, that part of it didn't seem overwhelming. In fact, as the movie unfolded towards a self-contained conclusion, I started wondering if somehow had more narrative drive and focus than the graphic novels might have wound up seeming to me towards the penultimate volume. That could, perhaps, be an encouragement to go back and reread them start to finish, seeking a new understanding of them. As for the movie itself, though, it's something I can imagine myself seeing at some point again. If nothing else, there is something about seeing a street corner up on the big screen and realising I've been there myself.
As I was contemplating going to the movie, though, I was sort of contemplating the whole "a comics work has arrived when it gets a live-action movie made" mentality, and thinking a bit that it would be something else had our culture shaped itself so that animation reproducing the appeal of the artist's style itself would be an equal option... but I suppose I'd say that the movie's own style wound up winning me over. The major ambiguity I seemed to have with the adaptation does seem sort of embarrassing to state, because it does seem so much like one you'd find in a lazy dismissal, but I suppose I have to say that to me, Michael Cera's voice seemed a whole lot milder than my mental impression of Scott Pilgrim in his "drawn" form, a single yet rather significant dissonant note in the middle of everything else that seemed just fine. By the end of the movie, though, I think I might have been getting used to him.
The reviews I'd read beforehand often made a big deal of the "8-bit video game feel" of the movie, and that was something about the graphic novels that might have just about had to have been pointed out to me, as I've never owned a dedicated video game console. In the movie itself, though, that part of it didn't seem overwhelming. In fact, as the movie unfolded towards a self-contained conclusion, I started wondering if somehow had more narrative drive and focus than the graphic novels might have wound up seeming to me towards the penultimate volume. That could, perhaps, be an encouragement to go back and reread them start to finish, seeking a new understanding of them. As for the movie itself, though, it's something I can imagine myself seeing at some point again. If nothing else, there is something about seeing a street corner up on the big screen and realising I've been there myself.