‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ Offers a Fresh Take on a Cult Classic

90/100

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is a newly released series and installment in the Scott Pilgrim franchise, which had not seen a new addition in 13 years. The new Netflix series is loosely based on the graphic novels written by Bryan Lee O’Malley and the 2010 film adaptation, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, starring Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. The new offers what is, in my opinion, a much-needed update on O’Malley’s characters and stories. 

Make no mistake, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off isn’t a remake of the movie and is more of a reimagining of the original story by O’Malley, although the film adaptations cast reprise their roles in the Netflix series. Generally, the Scott Pilgrim series follows the titular character, Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), an endearing, bass-playing, twentysomething, slacker type who falls for an American delivery girl, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). As their romance takes off, Scott discovers Ramona possesses superpowers and all her partners eventually have to fight a league of her supervillain exes, a League of Evil Exes if you will. And that doesn’t even begin to cover Scott’s messy breakup with now rockstar Envy Adams (Brie Larson) and his semi-ongoing relationship with high school student Knives Chau (Ellen Wong).

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off focuses more on Ramona Flowers who, in Scott’s initially unexplained absence, has to confront each of her exes to see if they had something to do with Scott’s disappearance. In this process, Ramona not only learns more about Scott, she has to confront her past mistakes and make amends with the people she hurt. 

At the risk of showing my age, I was in middle school when the Michael Cera film released, and tween me loved it. I am fairly certain this movie was my first exposure to queer characters which may have been more formative to my young psyche than I want to admit. Although even then, I thought the movie was, for lack of a better term, messy. Outside of Scott, the majority of the film’s cast of characters felt one-dimensional, and Ramona definitely came off as a manic pixie dream girl, a film archetype of a free-spirited woman who exists solely to teach their love Interest to embrace the infinite mysteries of life. The movie treats Scott’s flaws as quirky character traits, whereas the graphic novel has Scott come to terms with these traits to grow as a person. 

Even with Scott’s relative absence in the series, the showrunners still manage to get this idea across, while also exploring what that growth looks like for Ramona. Actually, Scott’s disappearance successfully shifts the narrative to be more character driven, the side characters are more fleshed out and their arcs more satisfying compared to the film.

Some of the significant issues I had with the 2010 movie were its treatment of Ramona’s sexuality and Knives as a character, both of which were rectified in this series. 

One of Ramona’s former relationships is with her college roommate Roxie Richter (Mae Whitman), which, in the movie, Ramona describes as a brief bout of bi-curiousity. Twenty-ten was an odd time for queer representation, bisexual representation especially. Ramona’s queer relationship was something she was very defensive about in the movie, bordering on being wholly dismissive. The Netflix series offers Roxie’s character more respect in this regard, exploring the pain of what it’s like to feel experimented with and Ramona feels less ashamed of this part of her life.

Knives Chau is a very minor character in the Netflix adaptation. In every iteration of the franchise, she starts off utterly obsessed with her older boyfriend Scott, feelings he does not reciprocate. Scott’s inability to be upfront with Knives and him effectively cheating on her devastates her which in both the graphic novel movie drives her to seek revenge on Ramona, becoming an evil ex herself. These versions of Knives really infantilize the character and the audience is made to see her as naive.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off avoids this again with Scott’s absence. With Scott gone, Knives grows close with his bandmates, Kim Pine and Stephen Still, delightfully portrayed again by Allison Pill and Mark Webber. Knives winds up taking Scott’s position on bass, for which she has a natural talent. This version of Knives feels more well-rounded and less defined by her relationship to Scott. 

There are great performances all around with Kieran Culkin as Scott’s cool gay roommate, Aubrey Plaza as Julie Powers (who thinks Scott sucks), and Chris Evans as Lucas Lee, an evil ex and Hollywood bad boy. There is a good mix of offbeat comedy and sincerity in the series’ tone that perfectly encapsulates what I initially loved about the franchise. 

The soundtrack by Anamanaguchi fits perfectly into the video game-inspired world of Scott Pilgrim’s Toronto, and animation studio Science Soru always puts out visually beautiful work. The dialogue feels snappy and, while there are plenty of references die-hard fans will appreciate, you don’t need to be well versed in the Scott Pilgrim franchise to enjoy this adaptation.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off offers a fresh interpretation of this cult classic, making characters feel more well rounded. While if you go into it expecting the same story you are used to with Scott Pilgrim you may be taken aback, the series is fun, fast-paced and colorful and filled me with nostalgia.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is streaming on Netflix.

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