Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (March 22, 2026)
With a worldwide gross of $51 million on a $60 million budget, 2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World lost a bucket of money. However, it earned a cult audience over the years.
Although fans have yet to greet a formal sequel, 2023’s Scott Pilgrim Takes Off brings an animated spinoff. Across eight episodes that streamed on Netflix, it tells a tale related to but not a copy of World.
All eight episodes appear on this Blu-ray Disc. The plot synopses come from the series’ official website.
Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life: “Slacker Scott Pilgrim (voiced by Michael Cera) leads a sweet and simple life until sparks fly — and ignite total chaos — when he meets Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the rainbow-haired girl of his dreams.”
I mostly liked World, with one major drawback: Cera. I never could stand his mumbly man-boy persona and his performance as Scott turned into the film’s biggest problem.
Perhaps because the animated Off doesn’t force us to look at the callow Cera, he seems considerably more likable here. Scott becomes less annoying and more awkwardly charming.
“Life” acts as the proverbial “place-setter episode”, one that introduces the characters and situations. It follows the start of World relatively closely but its ending alters the path of the live-action production. In Off, Ramona’s “evil ex” Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha) appears to vanquish Scott, whereas Scott wins the fight in World.
This means that although Cera gets top billing among the cast, Off seems set to focus on Ramona’s story more forcefully through the remaining seven episodes. Whether that becomes a good twist remains to be seen.
Of course, on the surface, I like the absence of Scott because of my anti-Cera policy. However, it does seem strange to watch a Scott Pilgrim project that largely avoids Scott Pilgrim.
Though I suspect Scott will pop up along the way and the series won’t be essentially “Scott-free”. In any case, “Life” sets up the premise in a fairly engaging manner.
A League of Their Own: “An eclectic crowd of familiar faces gathers under unusual circumstances. Elsewhere, the League of Evil Exes meets up at a secret lair.”
Scott does manifest in “Own”, though only as a ghostly voice Ramona hears. This leads her to believe Scott didn’t die.
Otherwise, “Own” not only almost entirely avoids Scott, but also it barely features Ramona. The League becomes the main focus.
Which makes “Own” basically another expositional episode, as it concentrates on Ramona’s former paramours and their plans. It mixes action and plot details in a pretty positive way.
Ramona Rents a Video: “Motivated by a dream, Ramona follows a hunch and confides in a receptive Julie Powers (Aubrey Plaza). At a video rental store, a tense run-in with Roxanne "Roxie" Richter (Mae Whitman) fuels big feelings.”
In World, Scott battled his way through the “Evil Exes”. So far it appears that Off will revolve around Ramona’s fights against those same characters.
That makes Off sound derivative and not much of a change from World. To a degree, that becomes true, but the focus on Ramona gives matters a reasonable spin.
In particular, “Video” brings some emotional depth because of that perspective. Whereas Scott didn’t know the Exes and just viewed them as one-dimensional, Ramona needs to deal with her past decisions – good, bad and indifferent.
At least for this one episode, this brings some heart to the series. “Video” offers a fairly compelling push ahead of the series’ narrative.
Whatever: “Ramona heads to a film set to see Lucas Lee (Chris Evans), her movie star ex, whose role in a major Canadian motion picture attracts media attention and the paparazzi.”
It remains fairly remarkable to see how many little-known actors circa 2010 went on to become big stars over the last 16 years. Evans, Plaza, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Kieran Culkin and others have gone on to real fame – and even Oscars in the case of Larson and Culkin.
“Whatever” takes an amusingly meta approach, as we see Lucas play Scott in a screenplay written by Scott’s friend Young Neil (Johnny Simmons) that sounds suspiciously similar to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Given the presence of the superficial and egotistical Lucas as the main role, “Whatever” comes with less depth than the prior episode, but it turns into a fun ride.
Lights. Camera. Sparks?!: “A documentary about the Toronto production reveals drama — and steamy romance — behind the scenes. Ramona takes on a daring but demanding gig.”
We get an unusual approach to the project via “Lights”. It tells us that the movie-within-a-TV-series about Scott got cancelled so it relates its tale as a behind-the-scenes featurette about that film’s production.
This creates a clever way to explore the developments. Granted, the making-of-within-an-episode doesn’t always play like a real “bonus feature” but I still like the approach and it means “Lights” pushes along matters in a vivid way.
WHODIDIT: “Ramona arrives at Julie's doorstep with more questions and curiosity. A surprise visitor seeks forgiveness from Gordon ‘Gideon Graves’ Goose (Jason Schwartzman). Knives Chau (Ellen Wong) taps into new talents.”
After some more fanciful episodes, “WHODIDIT” comes across as straightforward – well, “straightforward” for this kooky series. I admit that makes it less dynamic than the last few shows.
Nonetheless, “WHODIDIT” manages some of the standard wackiness and off-kilter approach. It advances the basic plot to uncover what happened to Scott and winds up as a good narrative advancement.
2 Scott 2 Pilgrim: “Unfinished business, mind-blowing revelations — and a mix of lovers, friends and exes. What could go wrong?”
“WHODIDIT” ends with a pretty big surprise, one that gets pursued here. To reveal more would offer a spoiler, so I’ll say no more other than to indicate “2 Scott” brings intrigue and launches us toward the series finale well.
The World vs. Scott Pilgrim: “Scott, Ramona and their friends face their toughest challenge yet in a knockdown epic showdown that could change everything.”
If you expect an action-packed finale from “World”, then you win. Of course, this comes with even more potential spoilers than “WHODIDIT” did, so I’ll omit specifics.
I will say that “World” concludes Off in a lively and compelling manner. It mixes wild fights with the usual quirks to wrap up a satisfying series on a high note.
Footnote: a brief tag during the end credits implies that Off might spawn a sequel.
