Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

In which, against type, I almost hate it.

Part of my qualified dislike for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (I liked a lot of the visuals and editing) stems from my mounting dislike of Michael Cera. Somewhere near the middle of Scott Pilgrim, that dislike graduated to full-on hatin’. His character is boring and empty and undeveloped. The comic character sounds deeper, or at least more well-drawn (*self-high-five for that pun*), but in the movie, I get little to no sense of who he is.

Also, I’ve got nothing to back it up, but if you’ve ever heard Simon Pegg’s real voice, it’s much deeper than the one he uses in his Edgar Wright projects. It feels like Cera decided or was instructed to similarly raise his voice in the Wright-directed Scott Pilgrim, because his voice is as high as a kitten doing a Bubbles from Powerpuff Girls impression. It is a strangleable voice.

If you’re not a hater, I could see bumping the movie to a C+ or even a B-. But the main character, his relationship, and the fights around them are a hollow void. I cannot see myself watching Scott Pilgrim again.