So, it's finally happened. The Hero of Hyrule slashes his way into theaters.

[jasonderoga86]

Yesterday as work was wrapping up for the Veterans Day weekend, I hung out in the business center and chilled-out browsing the web for a few moments. As I did, a story caught my eye, one that I first scoffed at, then slowly began to see as reality. The story concerned big news about Nintendo and one of their most cherished video game franchises heading for the big screen. We already had two versions of the Super Mario franchise in film -- one was critically panned, then later it redeemed itself in a different adaptation. Now, Nintendo was breaking news of another franchise going to the box office.

Guys and gals, Nintendo has given the green light to have director Wes Ball (Maze Runner) lead the live-action film adaptation of The Legend of Zelda. The Hero of Hyrule will soon arrive in theaters, with Master Sword in hand and a gleam of justice in his eye.

Today I woke up to find my friend Jazz Nevermore's new webcomic "Way of the Moe" had updated, and lo and behold, the comic was discussing this very story. The strip was funny as Jazz's strips always are, and after a good laugh, I decided to leave a detailed comment behind. Here it is, slightly edited:

"Yeah, I read about this on my off-hours time at work. I'm just gonna say that this is a damn tall order. Sure, Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog were good film adaptations, but that's 'cause they're based on toon-like video game characters with room for the colorful and zany. But The Legend of Zelda, on the other hand, isn't anything near toon-like -- at least not in its current state, with the release of Tears of the Kingdom. The series itself made a big step with the game finally including fully-voiced dialogue (Ganondorf is friggin' menacing, man!). But I remember Shigeru Miyamoto being asked a question I think all Zelda fans had been asking since Ocarina of Time back in 1998: "Why doesn't Link talk?" His answer was the trope of silent protagonist, the idea that Link was essentially the player's avatar (which is true; before Breath of the Wild, the player could always give Link a different "name").

Knowing this, the casting of Link is going to be one of, if not, the most important factor for the film, especially given that it's a live-action adaptation. Sure, there was the April Fools' Zelda live-action trailer that showed up on entertainment site IGN, but this is the real deal, and Nintendo will need to take care if they want to prevent one of their most prized franchises from being grievously marred. The public reaction to the 1993 Super Mario Bros. live-action film can attest to that."

Alright, Ninty-chan. Go forth, but whatever you do... don't fuck it up. You got a reputation riding on this.

Comments

[matt_zimmer]

ZEEELLLDAAA!!!

[jasonderoga86]

Is there a video clip of that anywhere? Sounds funny as hell. 😆

[matt_zimmer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-qBkWerZDg

[jazznevermore]

I've never even played any of the Zelda games, but I'm still hoping to God that the adaptation doesn't suck butt-cheeks. The production company behind the film had BETTER do a fucking morality clause with Shigeru like Tomorrow Studios did with Eiichiri Oda in the live-action One Piece adaptation.

[jasonderoga86]

Wholeheartedly agree there, man. Netflix's One Piece is obviously an example of a live-action media adaptation done right. Nintendo should really tread lightly on this; after the 1993 Super Mario Bros. live-action film was critically panned worldwide, Nintendo was so embarrassed they swore never to license any of their characters to film again. They finally relented in 2023 -- that's 30 years since -- and even then, The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a fully computer-generated film. So yeah, the Big N is walking on eggshells here, and with their reputation on the line their margin for error is very thin.