Wow, the animated version knocks it out of the park!
I watched the Netflix animated version because YouTube shorts kept suggesting me scenes from it... and yeah they were quite good, even in isolation. Which was surprising because I remembered watching the film and... nothing else about it.
And of course, I absolutely loved the series. Engaging characters, flawed as hell but extremely likable, insane twists, and some genuine growth.
At which point I was half ready to convince myself that I must have slept through the movie to not realize how great it was, so I rematched it and... yeah, it still didn't land for me at all.
Of course it was groundbreaking in the attempt to recreate a comic book style on film. But the rest falls also as flat as a comic book page.
The core conflict is first "will he leave his old girlfriend" and then "will he persevere in pursuing Ramona"... to which the answer is obviously YES! if you've ever consumed any media before. The only way the film has to make you ever doubt this is to ham up how much of a slimy loser Scott is. Which is not great to watch.
A lot of the beats just don't land. We only get a glimpse of Ramona in his dreams, so we don't quite feel his obsession with her. She is VERY standoffish towards him -and yeah, she has no reason not to be! She was outright blackmailed into meeting him again, and not much happens there to change that. So the kiss comes out of nowhere.
Also, she outright sees Knives throw herself at Scott before the concert, so when she later kisses him again we get the sense she should know she's enabling Scott's two-timing and doesn't care -that's not what the film wants us to think when much later Knives actually confronts her; but it IS what we see on screen.
And of course, Ramona is more of an obstacle than a partner. She gives him a chance on a whim, and helps once, but it seems she spends most of the time either having left (though it later turns out it isn't her fault) or considering it -up until walking away in the end. And actually, Scott was one step from letting her go... somehow, the only hero of the whole thing is Knives!!
The villains being roundly defeated every time in quite silly ways might be entertaining in the moment, but it takes away from the stakes, which really doesn't help. They are supposed to be this menace that weighs on their relationship; but for how the movie lays it out, you CAN indeed just grit your teeth, count them down, and be done with it. That doesn't work when "do I give up fighting" is THE fundamental conflict! (as the sister puts it "ah, not 11? Well ...7 ...is not that many" -she's right!)
Now, the animated series? Somehow, it's the first remake in modern history that seems to come from a place of genuine love, not a nostalgia bait cash grab as we're all too used to.
It takes all the weak points above and some more (like the treatment of Roxie, that some LGBT creators rightfully pointed out), and flips them on their heads.
It properly sets up in the first few seconds just how miserable Scott is, and the fascinating mystery of this dream girl -so when she's real, we understand why he's so excited, and in fact we're as excited as he is to unravel the mystery. She agrees on her own to meet him, and we spend considerably more time seeing them open up to each other. So the kiss is still a shock but not puzzling.
Also, Scott leaves before Ramona sees him with Knives, so she's genuinely innocent on that front. They clearly had that same specific objection.
Of course, Ramona is so much more than a mcGuffin for Scott; she's very much a protagonist. The movie explicitly codifies a patriarchal framing: he has to fight the rivals (even though they might not all be boyfriends). Her role is to support and trust in him to win. Here, each person's past and flaws are theirs to face.
Naturally, the villains, especially Patel and Gideon, having complex interactions and arcs of their own also adds so much more depth.
And of course, Wallace blossoming into a full blown chaotic menace is the cherry on top.
Of course, a lot of it was enabled by the longer runtime of a season, but clearly this was the right choice. The film spends a lot of time berating Scott for dating Knives (ironically, it arguably turns out she IS in fact the most mature character of all the cast!), and cutting that to focus on making the Xs matter was the right choice. Although the 3..2..1 scene at the arcade was good; and the contrast between Knives going ooh at Scott's media trivia and Ramona being thoroughly uninterested did add to the feeling that making the switch was a big step.
All in all, congratulations to Netflix for doing the right thing, and hiring actual artists with vision and love for the source material!