Scott Pilgrim vs. the Rest of the World - Blu-Ray

Movie: After delivering two works with "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" that became veritable cult films in no time, Edgar Wright tries his hand at adapting the popular comic book "Scott Pilgrim vs. the Rest of the World" by Bryan Lee O`Malley in his first US production. The result is a quirky romance with offbeat fantasy elements that was one of the movie highlights of 2010 in its own unique way.

Somewhere in Toronto, Canada, 23-year-old Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is dating a schoolgirl! Just another attempt to numb the pain of his breakup with Envy Adams (Brie Larson) over a year ago. Scott's bandmates, his sister Stacey (Anna Kendrick) and his gay roommate Kieran Culkin) don't think his new relationship is a good idea and fear he'll hurt his somewhat naïve girlfriend Knives Chau (Ellen Wong) very soon. Scott, however, is sure things are finally going the way they're supposed to: nice and uncomplicated! But when he meets the enchanting Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Knives suddenly doesn't care at all. He knows he's found his dream girl in Ramona.

Too bad, though, that along with his new infatuation comes all sorts of new problems. Not only does Scott have to break up with Knives. He also has to face Ramona's seven devilish ex-lovers and defeat them in duels if he wants to be with the mysterious American. Why does love always have to be such a hassle...

"Scott Pilgrim vs. the Rest of the World" is unusual cinema entertainment in the best sense of the word. The film, which sticks closely to its drawn original and even incorporates image sequences from the graphic novel into the action in some scenes, is an entertaining declaration of love for comic books, computer games, rock ... and, of course, love. For all the visual gimmicks, Wright hasn't forgotten to add charm and heart to his film. Even if the comic elements directly adopted into the film and the many quotes on older, but also modern video games sometimes seem a bit strained whimsical, the film never seems undercooled or so artificial that you as a viewer can not befriend the characters. Rather, it becomes clear in every second with how much heart and passion Wright and his team have implemented the graphic novel.

The cast is almost perfect. If at the beginning it is still to be feared that Michael Cera will once again play the kind of role he has already embodied in "Juno", "Superbad" and the series "Arrested Development", it soon turns out that Cera is also allowed to present some new sides of his skills this time. Yes, Scott Pilgrim is again a nerdy misfit, but he's also an arrogant egotist, and that's a side of the character Cera plays just great. He is supported by a wonderful ensemble of young actors, including "Superman" Brandon Routh as a super-powered vegan, Chris Evans ("Fantastic Four") as a cocky actor, Jason Schwartzman as an arrogant music mogul, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead ("Die Hard 4.0"). But the film's secret star is Kieran Culkin, who as Scott's gay roommate Wallace Wells is responsible for some of the film's best moments.

The sometimes very weird production, in which the ringing of a telephone appears in the picture as a RRRRRING in the style of a comic book or in which normal young people suddenly mutate into superheroes, only to disintegrate into several coins after losing a duel, makes it impossible to recommend "Scott Pilgrim" to a broad audience. Underneath its colorful and shrill surface, the film actually tells a story that everyone can relate to: Boy falls in love with girl, girl seems somehow unattainable and all her ex-boyfriends seem like supermen - but on closer inspection they all have their flaws and weaknesses. The fact that this old and not exactly thrilling story is packaged in such an original way makes "Scott Pilgrim against the rest of the world" a very special film pleasure.

So if you know a bit about the comic and computer scene, appreciate US comedies of the somewhat quirky (but fortunately not flat or vulgar) kind, you should definitely not miss this film. Absolutely recommendable!

Picture + Sound: The bright colors, the good mix of black levels, decent contrasts and an overall very good overall sharpness make the image quality of the Blu-Ray more than successful. Also really good is the sound, one of the positive aspects of the film anyway, which is allowed to come out in full force on the disc, offering lots of great surround effects and plenty of dynamics. Very good!

Extras: ATTENTION: The following review of the bonus material refers to the UK Region B Blu-ray. Although all of the extras have also been rated by the FSK, not all of the bonus material has made it onto the German disc either. For instance, the amusing video blogs are missing.

Here you get the full package, starting with no less than four (!) audio commentaries. The most interesting is voiced by director Edgar Wright, co-screenwriter Michael Bacall, and Bryan Lee O`Malley, creator of the comic book template. Not only is this commentary the most informative, O`Malley`s participation makes the entertaining and at times very amusing conversation a must-see, especially for fans of the original. The other three commentaries are provided by Edgar Wright and cinematographer Bill Pope, actors Michael Cera, Jason Schwartzman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Elle Wong and Brandon Routh, as well as supporting actors Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Kieran Culkin and Mark Webber. The two actor commentaries in particular are actually quite amusing, but offer little in the way of information, as you get to listen to the participants watch the film and be amused and entertained by it more as viewers than as those involved in the making of it.

Besides the commentaries, the best extras are the two-part, nearly 50-minute making of, which provides plenty of insight into the making of the film as well as numerous interviews, and the nearly 45 minutes of extremely amusing blogs. Also worth watching are the nearly 30 minutes of cut scenes, which not only include some moments from the comic book template that fans missed in the film, but also offer an alternate ending that was shot before O`Malley completed the story and wasn`t really well received by test audiences. The ending used in the finished film actually fits much better, but it will be interesting to see which direction the ending would have actually gone.

Nearly 10 minutes of outtakes, some of them very amusing, quite a few alternate and improvised takes, a very watchable documentary about the music in the film (approx. 16 min.), music videos (11 min.), quite a few featurettes about the pre-production, which include footage from the rehearsals (approx. 9 min.), test shots, animatics and casting shots (approx. 13 min.) are to be seen, several trailers and TV spots, a look at the version toned down for television, as well as featurettes on the make-up and the sound complete the extensive and absolutely worth seeing bonus material perfectly.

Conclusion: "Scott Pilgrim vs. the Rest of the World" is quirky, colorful, original, and funny as hell. The Blu-ray lives up to the quality of the film in every way: a great technical transfer and extras galore make this a must-have disc! Surely the film is not everyone's cup of tea, but recommendable is this Blu-Ray in any case!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp