I stand by my rewrite of the treatment posted in the other thread that everyone seemingly ignored...
That movie lacked a strong identity. In fact, I think I can give the idea presented in there a quick "treatment" and see if you prefer it my way. Go back to beginning of the movie:
Film starts.
Link is fishing, and Saria calls him. You can save about 20 minutes of film by having his mother call him to meet the Deku Tree. (Hell, you can make the messenger startle him as he fishes, have a first "action sequence" with him and the messenger fighting using "deku sticks" and "deku nuts" until the confusion is cleared up, and then have Saria call him to realise he got the message.) Walk through the village exposing some of the details that were neat, ad then move on with the plot. Tree tells him he needs to go to Hyrule to meet his destiny, have Saria say that she will go with him but have the Deku Tree mention that her role is to be something else in the future.Then have the teary eyed goodbye.
20-30 minutes in.
When Link makes it to Castle Town, have him help a traveller being attacked by bandits outside the town. The traveler is Talon, who invites him over. Use a "montage" to show that Link spends some time in town, getting to know Malon, while he searches for answers, and then have Impa contact him anonymously telling him that Zelda has the answers. Link sneaks in the Castle, and is caught, not by a guard, but by Ganondorf's henchman trying to sneak up on Zelda. Have the reveal that Zelda has Wisdom, Link has Courage,and the King has Power. Have a similar scene about how Zelda's mother died and Link wondering about his past, but DON'T HAVE THEM KISS. Maybe even have Impa note that there is no way Link was a Kokiri, since his hair is as blond as Zelda's.
About 40-50 minutes in:
Ganondorf's plot is pretty much the same, poison the king, kill him, steal the Triforce. Have Zelda tell Link that the solution is in the Temple of Time, but as Link goes in to take the sword, have Ganondorf explain his trap as it traps Link for the period of time.Link is released, and finds Castle Town overrun by Redeads. He runs away, finds Talon who remembers him, and then gets Link up to date: Ganon rules, Malon's dead, and Link is no hero. Have him offer hospitality out of the invitation he made in the past, and not out of kindness. Have the guard attack the farm, and Link find his hero groove. Talon tells him of Sheik and the resistance. Link gets Epona, and goes to Kakariko.
About 60-70 minutes in:
Link meets with Sheik, she tells him of the temple of fire, they go together, and find the Goron. Same fight with the monster WITH the Goron following in, to become the sage of Fire. The fairy/spirit gives Link the magic, and mention something about his lineage being linked to the Triforce. Go to the temple of Water, have a more elaborate fight against the octorok, meet with a Zora there, and have the fairy there tell him that although he is closer to knowing of his birth mother, he should not forget Saria. The Zora becomes the sage and Link with Sheik rushes to the Lost Woods. Have him save Saria from the giant, reveal Sheik as Zelda, Saria becomes the sage, and have Saria say that Zelda is the splitting image of Link's mother. The forest spirit reveals that outside of Ganon's ritual, the Trifoce belongs to the royal family, revealing Link to be Zelda's brother. They leave the Lost woods, see Talon's Ranch being burnt, they fight there, Zelda/Sheik is kidnapped.
We're hitting minute 100 here. It's a complex story, it could use more time to breath.
Link finds Ganondorf in a field, as he is starting the ritual to extract the Triforce. Have the battle between Link and Ganondorf be pretty much the same, but have a guard show up and stab Link at the end of the fight. Ganon is vanquished but Link is dying. Zelda uses the magic of the 3 fairies to transport back to the Temple of Time, place the sword back in and have Link restored back in the past, while seeing images of Ganondorf being pulled away from his scheming and into a shadowy void. Zelda asks her brother if everything is alright, he says he doesn't know, stands up and walk into the garden in front of the Temple, where he had spent some time with Malon, and finds her, ending the movie.
At most 120 minutes.
Wanna save some time: skip the Malon love and familial relationship between Link and Zelda, let romance be untold, but if that happens, DO NOT KILL MALON. If she dies, then she is the reason Link is undoing the past.
Anyway, a quick and more streamlined version of what the movie could have been.
Edit: wow, long post... on the plus side, creativity seems to be coming back... I guess...
Second Edit: I forgot to mention that I loved the prelude, and it could be included almost as is. Although it would work better as if the history was introduced by the Deku tree, and the finding of the child is Saria telling the story completely, during the goodbye scene in the beginning.