The Legend Of Zelda: The Movie
By now, I’m sure many Nintendo Gal readers have seen the fake trailer for a Zelda movie, posted on April Fool’s Day by IGN. Some were disappointed that it was a fake, while others were relieved; I personally fell into the latter category, having seen some leaked GIFs well before April Fool’s Day came around. The whole affair, though, along with modern-day film adaptations of video games, got me to thinking: how would it be like if Nintendo were to truly make a Zelda movie? Who would be in it? What would the plot be? Would we have to listen to Navi yelling "HEY! LOOK! LISTEN!" the entire time? Read on to find my thoughts on the issue.
I should first note that I’m probably not going to dwell much on actors in this article, mainly because I don’t get into the business of knowing actors very well. Besides that, though, it’s just not one of my main concerns, as long as Keanu Reeves is wholly uninvolved with the affair. Generally, a good actor/actress can adapt well to new roles, and there’s plenty out there so I don’t think we need to worry about it per se. Speculating would be fun, of course, but again I don’t know many actors/actresses very well.
The first order of business is something I noticed while watching the trailer, which is that Link didn’t say a word during the whole thing. I want to get this out of the way right up front: if a Zelda movie ever gets made, Link must speak. His muteness in the Zelda series is kind of a curious affair, one left over from the 1980’s when the NES made speech in general rather difficult; you’ll notice Mario is the same way. In any case, the fact that you don’t see Link speak has ended up being attributed to Link’s character, which is a problem.
The thing is, Link isn’t supposed to have character. He’s meant to be a direct link from the player to the game; a sort of extension of the player, placing him inside the game universe with some green clothes and a sword. Again, this was much easier back in the 1980’s; these days, with storytelling and presentation at the sort of levels they’ve reached, it’s hard to use a main character without a fleshed-out personality. Video games are the only medium where you can really get away with this, since the interactive element makes up for it; in a movie, it’d be unacceptable.
This in itself, though, is a rather major hurdle for the potential movie; the first major hurdle, anyway. The moviemaker is charged with the role of creating a fully-fleshed-out character (Link) out of one that has been, at best, half-present. In the games, Link is generally a puppet; he does what other characters tell him to do, rarely ever making a decision of his own. Who exactly would Link be? Would he be some sort of pure-hearted fellow, saving the world for the virtue of it? Would that be horribly boring as a main character? My jury is out on this one. All I can say for sure is that, in a movie, Link would need to be much more than he is now.
Speaking of fleshing things out, what exactly would constitute a good storyline? Your typical Zelda storyline seems to work well at first glance, but it’s just not intricate enough when you consider that a massive portion of Zelda games is spent dungeon crawling; it’s part of what makes the Zelda series what it is. This is an inherent problem when adapting nearly any video game to the big screen; what makes video games so long is usually one or more of a motley crew of gameplay-extending devices: mini-games, dungeons, and fetch quests, just to name a few. With the exception of the Metal Gear Solid series, nearly no story plucked directly from a video game would work out well in theaters.
Generally what happens from there is that a more generic Hollywood story is adapted to include elements from the game (for a crash course in this, watch pretty much anything by Uwe Boll). One has to wonder if this could possibly be a respectful treatment for a game series as revered as Zelda, but when you get down to the essentials, video games and movies are two incredibly different media in regards to what is acceptable or not. Zelda really is better attuned to a TV series, where each episode could represent the obtaining of a new Awesome Item, which is generally how the Zelda series works out. Video games can be digested in smaller chunks, but you have to watch a movie all at once.
Thus a movie is a bit more tricky business, but could it be possible to bring Zelda’s sort of "fetch quest" style of story to the big screen? I think it’s definitely possible, but the pace needs a severe adjustment. If Link went straight from one temple to another, it’d get old fast, but if things were mixed up a bit it could possibly work out; a good example of this can actually be seen in Pokemon: the Movie 2000, wherein the plot consists generally of a fetch quest, but with other events keeping the whole idea from growing stale (I’m sure there are better examples, but this one worked out for me). Twilight Princess seems to have this idea down cold; during the first half of the game, you’ve got to do the same set of things three times, but it feels so NOT monotonous I could barely believe I was playing a Zelda game.
One thing is for sure: if there’s a Zelda movie, there’s going to be action aplenty, and no shortage of special effects either. Gigantic picturesque bosses are definitely a staple of Zelda games, and this sort of thing would go perfectly with a movie. Placing them in the story may be more difficult, especially if we’re somewhat ditching the traditional structure of a Zelda game, but I have little doubt it can be done. Maintaining a good balance of story and action would be critical, of course, but that’s Moviemaking 101. I feel that Zelda in particular, though, falls into danger of relying too heavily on action, unless the overall story is kicked up a notch.
Summary is: making a Zelda movie would be rather difficult, in that staying true to the game’s roots is difficult when you’re trying to keep the movie interesting at the same time. Unfortunately, if you’re going to make a good movie, the former will have to be sacrificed a bit more than the latter. I don’t want to sound mean when I say that game fans should be expecting that; if they’re looking for a totally faithful adaptation, they’re better off playing the games again. As stated before, video games and movies are two totally different beasts, and a lot of what makes the Zelda series so great may not translate so well to theaters. If done just right, though, I think a balance can be struck that will appease both fans and non-fans.
If you have any ideas about a Zelda movie, regarding which actor would play who, or what would work well as a plot, or general replies to any of the comments made here, feel free to discuss the issue in this topic on the forums. Signing up is quick and easy, and lets you browse the Nintendo Gal forums, as well as submit news stories and game reviews of your own.
