Review: ‘Scott Pilgrim’ in Dolby Cinema is an Ear-Gasmic Celebration

scott pilgrim vs the world dolby cinema
Universal Pictures

Scott Pilgrim is back in cinemas and is ready to kick your teeth in!

Prepare to have the highlights punched out of your hair all over again. This past weekend provided a treat for Edgar Wright fans. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was re-released for a limited run. This time in Dolby Cinema. I snagged a ticket the moment I heard about the screening, and I was utterly blown away by the value of its presentation.  

The re-release was meant to be celebrated a year ago for the ten-year anniversary of the film’s debut. The pandemic cut that short. So here we are a year later. Was this a celebration that was needed? The only acceptable answer is unequivocally, “Hell Yes!” If you missed out this past weekend, worry not. The Dolby Cinema screening of Scott Pilgrim has been extended to this weekend and will be playing in 451 theaters nationwide. This is an opportunity not to be missed. If Avengers and Avatar were “made” for IMAX, Scott Pilgrim vs The World is the champion for a Dolby Cinema adventure.   

For those unfamiliar with this underseen tale, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, based on the eponymous graphic novel series by creator Bryan Lee O’Malley, holds quite a zany premise. 

At first. 

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Michael Cera plays Scott Pilgrim, a Toronto slacker who plays bass in an indie band, surrounds himself with enabling, but validating, friends and lives in a one-room apartment with his gay roommate Wallace (Kieran Culkin). Still recovering from a horrible breakup from approximately a year earlier, Scott starts dating a high schooler named Knives (Ellen Wong). That is until he meets the literal girl of his dreams: Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). However, in order to preserve his new relationship, Scott enters into systematic combat with Ramona’s seven evil exes. These nefarious foes include a telekinetic vegan, a pompous skateboarder-turned-actor, a teleporting goth chick and a flying-and-fireball-spewing Indian (dressed as a pirate). 

“If we’re going to continue to date, you may have to defeat my seven evil exes.”
“You have seven evil ex-boyfriends?”
“Seven evil exes, yes.”

Standard love-story fare, right?

Imagine if video games, martial art films, comic-book aesthetics and young romance were blended into a homogeneous attack on the senses. 

That is Scott Pilgrim vs The World.

It is abstract and wonderful. Ludicrous and magnetic. The charisma of Scott Pilgrim lies in the confidence it carries. It asks you to buy into a world where dorky Canadian kids can – at a moment’s notice – become martial arts experts and suspend all laws of physics only to return to normal and regroup at the local pizza joint. 

And it is so, so, so damn funny.

The sharp writing, commitment from the cast and crew and its sheer audacity all skillfully converge so cohesively into an amazing ride that is well deserving of a second chance at the cinemas. 

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During its initial run at the box office in 2010, Scott Pilgrim didn’t fare too well. Against a $60,000,000 budget, it barely made two-thirds of that back from worldwide audiences. It’s easy to be a Monday-morning quarterback and nitpick at the conditions that hindered the film’s box office results all those years ago. I’m not going down that rabbit hole. 

Instead, it’s necessary to understand why this 2021 release was so important. I’ve written about the significance of cult films before. A quick recap is my assertion that eventual cult films are typically maligned upon cinematic release; but they tap into a certain audience that swells year after year keeping the film relevant in cinematic circles. Scott Pilgrim has that power and it should’ve had it all along. 

First and foremost, it was directed by Edgar Wright. His eye for storytelling, fast-paced editing, and sharp writing have given us some of the greatest movie moments this century. Namely with Baby Driver and the unrivaled Cornetto Trilogy. (I’ll admit, at first I wasn’t the biggest fan of the third installment – The World’s End. But no director on the planet could’ve made a more impressive version.)

Wright’s gifts are laced within every frame here. He’s a filmmaker whose style is instantly recognizable. In Scott Pilgrim, Wright blends aural cues against hilarious vectors tied off with remarkable pacing and timing. 

You know, like a comic book. A really good comic book.

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Its beauty is in its subtlety. Where some filmmakers make spectacle for the sake of spectacle, Wright sprinkles enough sparks and flares to spice up transitions and convey required robustness without spilling over into ostentatious territory. This film is such a gift because the amount of clues, hints and references scattered throughout are so smartly sewn in that one can find something new after every fresh viewing. I am a willing victim of this. And I am ready for more. That’s the Edgar Wright experience. 

The casting in this film is an incredible stroke of luck and timing. It is ironic that this past weekend was also the 2021 NFL Draft, as the Scott Pilgrim cast is full of first round picks. The structure of this film is important for this, too, there’s a lot of folks at play here. While the principal cast shuffles from beat to beat, some heavy hitters walk on and bow out very quickly. I never felt suffocated by too much presence on screen. 

Besides Cera and Winstead, we are graced with the previously mentioned Culkin, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Brandon Routh, Chris Evans, Jason Schwartzman, Brie Larson, Johnny Simmons, Mark Webber and Alison Pill. I still have a special place for Ellen Wong’s sweet and innocent Knives Chau. Scott Pilgrim is a true time capsule of young hip actors. It would be something short of a casting miracle to put this same supergroup together again now in 2021. Even with such a lengthy amount of characters, the film allows all of them to develop and flesh out their own personality and motivation.  

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The incredible soundtrack that rips through the film is one of the biggest highlights of the Dolby theater experience. I don’t think I have ever relished sitting through opening credits more in my life. The music from this film is punchy and catchy. The songs from the meta band, Sex-Bob-Omb, still hit with boppy crunchiness, but now with more bite. (Their catalog was written by Beck, to include Scott’s ballad “Ramona.”) The Dolby treatment amplifies this to a new tier of ear-gasmic celebration. I even caught more tasty bits of the audio mix that are drowned out in a home viewing setting such as off-screen dialogue and more video game sound effects. The amount of layers in this film is pervasively delicious. 

I’m aware that epic war films, super hero stories, and sci-fi adventures fare best when experienced within the cinema. Scott Pilgrim vs The World merits this as well. In many ways, this film is better than it needs to be. I will forever want to shake Edgar Wright’s hand for his incredible handling of the source material, and I’ll forever kick myself for not seeing this in theaters back when it came out. I’m so grateful I got a second chance at the latter. Even if you saw Scott Pilgrim in its initial run, or multiple times from the comfort of your own home, I recommend taking up this opportunity. I don’t intend for all of us to rally so the film can break even its budget, but to simply see this film the greatest way possible. To quote Gideon, Scott’s final antagonist, it’s “music to my earholes.” The caveat is to only do this if you feel comfortable going back to the cinema. My screening had exceptional social distancing; I felt quite at ease. 

Very few films can boast that they look and feel different in the context of a polished cinema presentation. Scott Pilgrim vs The World, with all of its heart and fun, can lay claim to that title. It is truly an inexplicable experience. 


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