So What the Hell Is Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Anyway?
Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World went from a box office bomb during its opening week to one of the more memorable films of the decade not long after. It's sort of matured as a quirky cult classic and maybe birthed a lot of our popular pop culture trends in recent years (the manic pixie dream girl? The soft boy simp?). Suffice it to say, it had a lot going on and a lot of viewers weren't particularly sure how to process it. Its latest reiteration has the same fun problem.
Times have changed and Scott Pilgrim has just found new life as an animated series on Netflix. Produced by BenDavid Grabinski, Bryan Lee O'Malley, and Wright himself, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is a delightful whatever-you-want-to-call it to the original film. This marks the second adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley's graphic novel series. It's not exactly a prequel, sequel, or even coherently related to the story. So far, we've seen a very interesting take on the concept of reboots and legacy sequels here. The animated series is anything but all that. Hell, even Wright doesn't know.
In an interview with Variety, however, the director, who executive produced the animated series, cleared things up. “It’s neither an adaptation of the books nor an animated version of the film. It’s almost an alternate-reality sequel.”
The animated show, apparently, isn't even about Scott Pilgrim either. Well, the producers have been mum on the actual plot of the thing since its trailer was first released. But after its premiere on November 17, at least we have a better picture. The first episode plays out just how we'd imagine a Scott Pilgrim sequel play out, only in cartoon form. But unlike in the books or the film, Scott isn't here to defeat Ramona's exes anymore. After the first episode ends, it's all Ramona, really, and her own journey to explore, well, the exes.
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From there, it turns into a pseudo-detective affair as she searches for our favorite Canadian indie rockstar. While it's a departure from the original cult movie, the animated series still features most of the cast's voices. These include Chris Evans, Brie Larson, Jason Schwartzman, and Aubrey Plaza. All these characters are again part of Ramona's quest, but are reframed in a different light. The series offers us new insights into old antagonists. From apologizing to Roxie to inspiring Lucas Lee to become a big skater-actor guy, these exes are given their own respectable arc. Even Gideon becomes someone we root for as the series goes along.
Each episode will now focus on Ramona's exes, with each episode having a different feel from the rest. It follows the animation trend of relying on different styles. For instance, episode 2 is more of a martial arts spectacle that incorporates elements from different genres. There's a little bit of mockumentary DNA in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, too. We get time traveling, musicals, and a whole bunch of other weird shit and it's pretty amazing, cooking like a wacky animated crockpot. It, of course, gets pretty meta at some point (as we'd expect from Scott Pilgrim) and it cranks it up to entirely new levels by the end of it. It should make sense when it all wraps up, we assume.
We're not entirely sure if Scott Pilgrim Takes Off makes for a nice way into the Scott Pilgrim lore. It's kind of meant to toy around with fans' expectations and all the 20-somethings who are loyal to the movie. The animated series is simply an offbeat retelling of a cult classic, surprising us in the coolest ways possible, with signature themes of self-awareness, intrusive thoughts, horrible exes, and self-acceptance at the heart of it.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is streaming on Netflix now.
