Having just gotten home from a screening of the new movie, based on the Oni Press books by Bryan Lee O’Malley, now seems as good a time as any to review the movie for those of you out there who are planning on seeing it when it arrives in theaters in mid-August. I’ll keep this review completely spoiler free for those of you that haven’t checked out the books.

On a side note, if you haven’t checked out the books… what are you waiting for?

If you’re unfamiliar with the basic idea, the books and movie follow slack-rocker Scott Pilgrim as he meets the love of his life, Ramona. The only catch is that in order to actually date her, he must battle the seven evil exes of her past. The result is a comedic journey of self-discovery for Scott filled with video game references and zany antics that should please almost any comic book or video game fan.

While the movie’s story follows the books almost exactly for the first 3/4 of it’s entirely, the story shifts at the end and, although it certainly contains some of the key plot elements of the book, paves it’s own path. This is mainly (if not entirely) due to Bryan Lee O’Malley selling only the rights to the first five books and withholding those to a book that had yet to be written in volume 6. That being said, if you’ve read the books, you’ll still definitely enjoy how the entirety of the film comes together. If you’re new to the series, you probably enjoy what you find here and, should you choose to pick up the books, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn that the ending of the series varies somewhat from the movie so it’s not entirely spoiled for you.

The movie’s casting is also one of the stronger points as everyone seems to really take on their roles well. While I’m not a huge fan of Michael Cera, it’s clear that he was tailor made for the role of Scott Pilgrim and it would be tough to find someone who would do better. Standouts from the film would have to include Kim Pine, played by Alison Pill, and Ramona Flowers, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Both of these actresses really become the character from the comic as best as they could and seemed to stand out a little more from the rest of an already pretty exceptional cast.

All the effects from the comics, like the the ringing of a telephone or a huge punch to another character actually appears on screen during certain scenes in text form. If you’ve been following any of the trailers, you know exactly what I mean but there are plenty of scenes you don’t see that make great use of this effect and make many of the battles literally come to life on the big screen. Another interesting effect is the use of the actually comic’s panel which are used during a number of the movie’s flashback sequences.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World certainly isn’t for everyone. When I said earlier that it was sure to please comic book or video game fans, I wasn’t kidding. I have to believe that the film will have the most impact on anyone born and raised during the 8 or even 16-bit console eras or fans of something a little different than your typical boy-meets-girl kind of movies.

Fans of comic books, video games and anything else remotely nerdy, you owe it to yourself to go see Scott Pilgrim.

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