“Pause” – Gavin Lane, editor
I’m all for a Zelda movie, whatever form it takes — there’s no way it can ‘sully’ the games and the experiences I’ve had with them, so even if it turned out to be a cucco, I’ve got no problem with them taking some big swings with this.
Still, it being a live-action adaptation is giving me pause. An animated project along the lines of the Spider-Verse films would sit better, I think. Minor design tweaks aside, the Mushroom Kingdom was realised in the Mario Movie pretty much as expected; the template from the games was translated into Illumination’s colourful animated style, and besides a few changes and voice cast choices, it delivered almost exactly the sort of easygoing, goes-down-nicely-with-a-box-o’-popcorn experience the majority of cinemagoers wanted from a film with that title.
The Zelda series is a far broader canvas, though, and there are just so many ways live-action could get it ‘wrong.’ After a very long career, Avi Arad has some winners under his belt (I’ve got huge affection for various films with his name attached, the Raimi Spider-Men and the original Blade in particular), but he also feels like an odd choice.
I’m torn, really. Trepidatious, but eager to hear more. Hopefully it’s not all grimdark with fairies and choirs.
“Brace position” – Jim Norman, staff writer
I had my fingers crossed for Studio Ghibli to step in on this one, I really did. But, it seems that live-action is what we are going to be stuck with, so I am trying to see the bright side.
Regardless of just how beautiful some of those animated renders of Hyrule on the internet may be, I am excited to see what form a live-action Hyrule takes. An overabundance of greenscreen and The Volume (which I am rapidly seeing as the bane of Hollywood) would be enough to make this look like a steaming pile of Chuchu, but if the filmmakers can build sets, shoot on location and make the most of the real world, then I think this has the potential to be really rather pretty. Come on, Nintendo and Sony is definitely going to throw enough money at it to make this a reality.
I completely understand the financial motive for filling the cast with big names to pull in the punters, but I would really, really like to see a bunch of new, up-and-coming actors take the lead(s) on this one. I am already in the brace position for the announcement that Tom Holland has been cast as Link, but this movie could provide the perfect career booster for someone that we’ve never seen before — how exciting would that be!?
I need to hear a few more details before I can leave this zone of caution, but this is my baby that we’re talking about here, and I can’t shake the worries just yet.
“Excited to learn more” – Ollie Reynolds, staff writer
I’m cautiously optimistic about this. Like Gavin said, there’s no way a bad movie adaptation can take anything away from the game franchise; heck, just look at Resident Evil.
I do admittedly have some concerns, though. Since they’re going down the live-action route, just how faithful will this movie be to the Zelda we know? Are we going to see something along the lines of the original X-Men movie where they just ditch all of the iconic costumes? And what about the inevitable sword fights? I’ve seen some wonderfully choreographed live-action duels in my time, but there’s no denying that animation lets you be a lot more stylish in this area (think Clone Wars vs. Ahsoka).
For now, though, I’m excited to learn more about the project: who’s starring in it, what the overall premise will be, etc. I’m thinking it will likely be something along the lines of The Hobbit: something reasonably lighthearted that sees Link saunter off onto an adventure while Ganondorf quietly lurks in the background. I wouldn’t mind that.
“Shields up” – Alana Hagues, deputy editor
I’m going to start with a caveat here — I don’t think I really wanted a Zelda movie, particularly if it won’t be animated. But we’re getting one now, so I have to be at peace with that.
That being said… oh no. As a producer, Avi Arad has been behind a couple of really great films (Spider-Verse, Spider-Man 2… there’s a pattern, here), but I’ve not enjoyed much else he’s worked on. The same goes for Wes Ball, who I don’t think has proved himself yet. I’m being very bitter old lady about this, aren’t I? I’m sorry.
Derek Connolly is supposedly working on the screenplay, and again, I look at the co-writing on the Jurassic World trilogy and I get worried. But he does have experience with other Nintendo franchises — namely, he co-wrote Pokémon Detective Pikachu. So that gives me a little confidence. Honestly, I’m just having nightmares about this more comedic adventure full of quips and jokes that just won’t fit in Hyrule. Maybe they’ll do a Mario movie and let Zelda be a kickass hero, too.
I think I’m letting my negativity cloud my judgment a bit. I never wanted live-action Zelda, and I think I’m trying to deny its existence and get my shields up early.
So, how are you feeling about the ‘The Legend of Zelda Movie’ news? (They’ll definitely call it that, right?) Let us know in the poll and the comments below.
