Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is currently dating a high schooler, Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), and can’t get passed his mourning period. The band he plays for, Sex Bomb Omb, with his friends Kim (Alison Pill), Stephen (Mark Webber), and Young Neil (Johnny Simmons) is getting ready to join a battle of the bands for a music contract, but somehow they can’t get Scott to concentrate. Scott continuously sees a girl in his dreams and when he realizes she is more than just a dream he knows that she if the one for him, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Before he can actually have a normal relationship with Ramona, he must fight to the death with her 7 of evil exes.

When I saw this in theaters, I thought this is brilliant, but also heard many negative comments on my way out the door like; “this is too nerdy for me”; “too geeky”; etc. but before you pass judgment sit and think the types of movies you’ve seen in the last year or two. Just sit and ponder on which are the biggest movies that Hollywood is preparing. Yep, comic book based films, video game based films, etc. Scott Pilgrim is no different than the majority of those films. Based on a comic book and faithfully adapted, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is easily one of the year’s best quality films and one underrated movie.

What’s so fascinating about Scott Pilgrim? Well for starters Edgar Wright’s adaptation is as faithful to the comic as it can be. That in itself is a pretty difficult task to do. This was perhaps the reason why it alienated some of the viewers and attracted only a dedicated fan base. Regardless, Scott Pilgrim was more than just another comic book film. It was a testament of Wright’s great film making talent. Visually Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was incredible, bringing the pages of the comic to life. The film looked as if you were watching a comic. The visual style used fit the film in every possible aspect. Edgar Wright manages to capture the essence of the comic, bringing all the little bells, whistles and corny cartoony illustrations.

There’s sort of a nostalgic feel to this movie, especially if you lived through the early gaming years that saw the Atari, the NES, etc. You’ll recognize few familiar gaming cameos. Michael Cera was spot on for Scott Pilgrim. I know what you are thinking, Michael Cera in a teenage/young adult character again? Yes, he is doing the same thing he has been doing for the past few years, but it works. Cera may not do something fresh in terms of new roles, but he does this so good is hard to complain about it. The dialogue is funny and fitting to some of the characters. Mary Elizabeth Winstead fits perfectly for Ramona and shares a great chemistry with Michael Cera. The casting was spot on and the dialogue was shaped around each character very nicely.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG4-AVC encode framed at 1.85:1. The film has this intentional soft look with each frame looking washed out. This is intentional and perfectly fitting for the movie with this unique style. Colors are well reproduced and lifelike. Reds, yellows, and greens standout the most throughout. Fight scenes stand out the most with all the comic book-like pop ups on the screen. Details are exceptional and very revealing. Garments reveal the intricate patterns, the streets and surround areas are very reveal all it’s various intricate textures, close up shots are reveal all the actors skin textures. Daylight scenes are more revealing in detail. Skintones are appearing natural and lifelike, a tad bit pale, but they look good. The film sports a thin layer of grain to support the filmmaker’s style. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World looks damn good on Blu-ray.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World arrives on Blu-ray with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio lossless track. If the video was good, just wait until you hear the audio. It’s a he k of a treat with an incredible audio assault that will put your home theater to work. From the moment Sex Bomb-omb plays their first practice song as the movie title is coming on screen you can instantly tell the movie will be loud. But wait it gets better! Dialogue is reproduced without a single problem. Surrounds handle all the ambience and atmospherics with great directionality creating an exceptional sound field. The bass is strong yet well balanced. Plenty of rip roaring sounds rip through the soundstage throughout the movie especially during Scott’s bass guitar battle and semi finals band battle. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is outstanding!

Audio Commentaries – The first audio commentary features Edgar Wright, Michael Bacall, and Bryan Lee O’Malley. The track is incredible, not only is it informative, but it features the creator of the comic and we get a chance to hear his thoughts as he talks about his work. All three personalities talk about the general topics of the movie as well as the comic and how he sees the live incarnation of his wonderful work.

The second audio commentary features Edgar Wright and Bill Pope. This is a more technical track that Edgar Wright and Bill Pope go over providing enough insight into the production. The duo tackles everything from the set designs, the shooting locations, and every detail that went into every scene.

The third audio track features Michael Cera, Jason Schwartzman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ellen Wong, and Brandon Routh. I would have expected this track to be the liveliest of them all, however, it is not. Michael Cera leads the way through the track as the rest of the speakers seem to just interrogate him. Cera provides lots of insights about the shooting of the film.

The last audio track features some of the secondary cast members like Anna Kendrick, Kieran Culkin, Aubrey Plaza, and Mark Webber. This track could have saved us all some time if it wasn’t included. I mean they didn’t exactly have a lot of information and at times there was just too much silence.
Storyboard Picture-in-Picture – The PiP track allows viewers to see and access storyboards of the movie as it plays.

Making of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – Clocking at almost 50 minutes, this featurette gives the opportunity to Edgar Wright to talk about the various approaches he had to make the Scott Pilgrim comic come to life.

Pre-Production – This feature is split into 6 different pieces Rehearsal Videos, Pre-Production Footage, Hair and Make-up Footage, Casting Tapes, Animatics, and Props, Rigs and Sets Montage. Combined they are about 1 hour and 40 minutes and well worth it.

Adult Swim: Scott Pilgrim vs. The Animation – The cartoon that was featured on Adult Swim prior to the theatrical release of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The Censors: TV Safe Version – This features a set of scenes censored for TV.

VFX Before and After – Visual Effects supervisor Fraizer Churchill talks about how they achieved some of the effects found within the film.

Roxy Fight / Ribbon Version – Check out how the fight sequence was filmed prior to the addition to visual effects.

Phantom Montage: Hi Speed Footage – This gives the viewers a chance to see the actors doing some of their stunts in slow motion. Very entertaining piece, yet very too short.

Soundworks Collection: Sound for the film profile – This pieces shows you a bit of just how great the audio mix is.

Edgar Wright’s Video Blogs – See the 12 video blogs that Edgar Wright did about the film’s production.

Trailers – Featuring theatrical trailers and video game trailers for the movie.

Alternative Edits – Shows more scenes that feature some type of alternative edits from the final cut.

Music of Scott Pilgrim – The featurette tackles the music found within the movie. It shows the great length the cast and crew along with the real life musicians that were involved went through in order to deliver the music in the film.

Music Videos – Total of 4 music videos and 7 remixed songs by DJ Osymyso.

Trivia Track – Gives viewers pop ups with text providing tips about the scenes and gaming references in the movie.

Deleted Scenes – There’s 21 deleted scenes included and all have the option of having Edgar Wright’s commentary.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the Bloopers – The featurette offers a glimpse at all the screw ups by the actors during shooting.

You Can Be Sex Bob Omb – Viewers can see Mark Webber learning how to play the guitar for the roll of Stephen Stills.

Bits and Pieces – More bloopers from the set of the film.

Galleries – Features a look at the props and posters created for the film among other things.

BD-Live Functionality – Universal is offering a chance to stream Pitch Black or Tremors for free via BD-Live.

Edgar Wright’s incarnation of Scott Pilgrim was superb to say the least. Everything was spot on the dialogue, the visuals, the cast, etc.. Scott Pilgrim couldn’t have come to the big screen in a better way. The Blu-ray features a great video transfer, but an even better sound track. The Blu-ray is packed with over 22 hours of supplements so there is plenty to see. At the end of the day some may not like this movie and some will, but I stand by strong behind this review and deem Scott Pilgrim vs. The World one of the films of the year.