Jump to content

The Legend of Zelda movie is finally out??


Brushfire
 Share

Recommended Posts

... I don't want to be overly critical because I love fan efforts like these...

... but I can't watch this thing and take it seriously at all. They try to make it too epic and focus on aspects of the Zelda series that aren't really facets of the game's story or setting at all (outside of names).

I felt similarly about MGS:Philanthropy, though it did a better job retaining some of Metal Gear's look and feel.

Kudos for fans taking on such a huge project and seeing it through, but I feel as if a smaller scope would have helped make this project more successful, especially when you take the story so seriously. Instead of trying to make it feel like all three of the Lord of the Rings films in a little over an hour, why not focus on a more precise retelling of a snippet of the Zelda story. That would have been more interesting. This project, as it is currently, just feels as if the producers bit off more than they could chew yet they continued to chew and chew... and chew.

It's hokey. And I can deal with hokey, but not when it takes itself THIS seriously.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, so it took me a couple of days, but I finally have a pretty thorough review of the movie. Unfortunately, it's really long. Here's a link to the whole thing:

http://darklink42.blogspot.com/2009/12/review-of-hero-of-time.html

And here is my condensed opinion for the TLDR folk:

I guess overall I can't say I was impressed. On the one hand I'm glad someone took the time to really try and make a decent independent Zelda film. It wasn't full of obvious, cornball gags, and didn't try to take itself too lightly. On the other hand, it was almost two hours long and failed to achieve anything substantial for a variety of reasons.

The acting, with some marked exceptions, was sub-par, and one thing that really bothered me was Link's hair. Something about it just kept reminding me of a wig I saw used in There Will be Brawl, which is a very high quality fan series. Link is always asking questions, which is a bad sign in a movie when the main character has more questions than the audience.

The other thing that bothered me was that it followed a lot of Ocarina. Admittedly, OoT had a fleshed out story and was a lot of fun to experience. But why do fans keep trying to make movies that simply re-hash the tale. I'd like to see a new adventure, something fresh and interesting. There are huge limitations to remaking a plot of a videogame into a movie. Not only do I know the plot already which ruins any suspense, but it also narrows visual and story telling choices, which just makes the whole 108 minutes less enjoyable.

But what really does this movie in isn't anything that can be pinned down as one objective whole. The real problem here is all the small things that seem to have been put on the back burner or ignored entirely. At first I thought perhaps I was just nitpicking, but as the movie continued to progress, they kept adding up until I finally was forced to notice. It starts, I think, when we notice that Saria is practically the same age as Link. Not a big deal, maybe they couldn't find a good child actor. But then we find out that the rest of the Kokiri are children (literally kids this time). Things go down hill from there, until you get to the coup-de-grace, which is the Goron. Why, why, why is he a fat Asian guy that I can barely understand? And why does he just disappear? It could have just as easily been Link playing the ocarina, no extra actor needed. And why, for the love of the goddesses, can Link not manage to walk in a straight line over any terrain without stumbling.

Lastly, I'd like to go on record as saying that there was a reason that Saria was never straight out labeled as Link's surrogate mother. It was awkward in the movie, and the actress looked Link's age.

Super short version: This movie is really long, and there is precisely two funny scenes. Unless you're a die-hard fan, I don't recommend sitting through the whole thing. Go watch better produced stuff, like There Will be Brawl and Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

http://www.legendofzeldaseries.com/main.php?page=fanmovie.html

Long version short, Nintendo ordered them to take the movie down.

Now, some of you are going to be all "fucking corparate bastards, telling people to take down fan-made stuff! EVIL RANT FUCK BITCH DSFJH:LD:SGG:LJLH:LIJL!" and so forth, but wait!

Nintendo allowed them to distribute it all along, under the agreement that they stop as of today. So no, they didn't clamp down on it, they let it happen and then worked with the fans to allow a clean, ordered cease and desist.

Also:

We understand Nintendo’s right to protect its characters and trademarks and understand how in order to keep their property unspoiled by fan's interpretation of the franchise, Nintendo needs to protect itself — even from fan-works with good intentions.

Let's face it, that movie wasn't exactly making anything or anybody look good. Keeping Zelda unspoiled, indeed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oddly enough, it was still on the official site? I thought a cease-and-desist means that you have to REMOVE the content in question...did I miss something?

While the production values for a project of this scope were admirable, the acting was mediocre at best. The plot changes, meanwhile, had me raging worse than a Star Wars fanboy playing The Force Unleashed. I wouldn't have minded all the changes so much, if they didn't seem so unnecessary, or just plain stupid. My friend is convinced that this was intended to be some sort of fan fiction on film. I on the other hand, can see how it was obviously supposed to be Ocarina of Time, just with some liberties taken. Stupid liberties that I despise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

regardless, even an amateur screenwriter (like me) could write better than this. i wrote better prose when i was in high school. actually, i wrote a dramatized "fantasy series" adaptation of the zelda games (finished 3 of 6 proposed books). dork/fanboy alert. but even that was better written than this shit. the dialogue was awful, the pacing was garbage and it left the actors with no choice but to sound and appear awkward even if they're talented (which a few of them certainly were).

i'm all for a fan made film and i'm as obsessed with zelda as anyone i know but it was obvious that whereas they invested greatly in aesthetics and presentation, they lacked horribly in investing in a good writer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think a less adventurous and fantastical Zelda, if it had very good writing, would have been an even better approach.

precisely. when i was writing my (i hate using the prefix fan) fiction, it was far more humanized. think goodkind's sword of truth series (upon which the legend of the seeker is based). the way it is written, you can transplant any or at least most of the characters and many of their situations and personal scenarios into any other context not entirely dependent on the fantasy genre itself. it's just human stories within a fantasy context. as a result, it's very easy to relate to the characters because they seem so very real even if their experiences are sometimes really not. richard rahl is awesome because he's just richard. link had to be just link... not every zelda nut's fantasy.

zelda doesn't have to be so feebly grandiose. that is too easy to see through and it comes off campy. the interaction between saria and link is so completely unbelievable that it almost kills what could have and probably should have been a moving and meaningful separation. i think back to jackson's lord of the rings and how frodo's separation from the shire was depicted. i hate to say it but this zelda movie is like the love child of a zelda fanatic and a LOTR:the movie fanatic. some of the aesthetic "copycat" maneuvers are painfully obvious (including jackson's signature lens tricks).

i don't know. i also think that the guy who played ganondorf could have been so much more convincing if a much better writer was writing for him. i think his delivery and inflection is great. it's the shitty fucking dialogue haha

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...