There is always a challenge about reviewing an entire season of television. The largest challenge is always knowing how to address it broadly enough that there are not any inherit spoilers given in the review, and due to the nature of television there can be multiple stories being told and just giving a general overview of what happens in the show can get muddled. With that being said, when the newest story focusing on beloved Scott Pilgrim whose been adapted into a movie and has his comic series, we follow our titular character in a very different light this time around that focuses more around Scott than Scott himself, but borrows from the movie and the original comic.
The show which was co-created by BenDavid Grabinski and Bryan Lee O’Malley (the creator) takes us on a journey we’ve seen parts of before, with awkward twenty something Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) falling for the new girl in town, punk attitude manic pixie dream girl, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and trying to win her heart. As we saw in the movie, Scott has to battle her seven evil exes or lose his chance with Ramona. What Scott Pilgrim Takes Off does differently, what if Scott doesn’t battle Ramona’s exes and is no longer the focal point of his series? Without saying more, as we do not want to wander into spoiler territory, this story for Scott Pilgrim is different than the movie and the comics itself, but to truly understand and appreciate this story, seeing it is the best way to go about it and it will be a choice that certainly 1ups ones individual life itself.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is one of the very rare instances when an entire cast comes back together to bring to life another story, and considering none of the cast are traditional voice work actors, their performances shine bright and truly help bring to life the characters audiences fell in love with either from Edgar Wright’s adaptation or O’Malley’s books themselves. As a refresher the original cast consists of Brie Larson playing Envy Adams’ Scott’s ex-girlfriend, Jason Schwartzman playing Gideon Graves – one of Ramona’s exes, Chris Evan’s playing Lucas Lee – another ex, Anna Kendrick playing Stacey — Scott’s sister, Kieran Culkin playing Wallace – Scott’s roommate, Alison Pill playing Kim Pine, Brandon Routh as Todd Ingrim – another ex, but vegan, Mae Whitman as Roxie another ex again, Ellen Wong as Knives Chau, and Satya Bhabba as Matthew Patel. The entire cast is back, with a few surprises as well bringing their voices and enthusiasm to the new animated show that will truly be the KO punch of adrenaline and pure joy the audience is surely expecting.
There is so much to love about Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, that delaying the initial viewing any further would be a crime. The animation is absolutely spectacular and the direction from Abel Gongora who directs the entire season is flawless. There truly is not anything like this out there, an adaptation that crosses the source material and a different adaptation to create a new entity in of itself, that also pleases fans across the board. So much love and passion went into crating this and it is evident by the final result, so sit back, kick your feet up and enjoy Scott Pilgrim Takes Off!
