The Legend of Zelda: The Hero of Time
The Legend of Zelda: The Hero of Time
NR | 06 June 2009 (USA)
The Legend of Zelda: The Hero of Time Trailers

Link, after doubting his relation to the people of the Kokiri Forest leaves to find out his real heritage. But he is dragged into becoming the chosen to defeat the tyrannical Ganondorf and save Hyrule and the imprissoned Princess Zelda.

Reviews
NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!
BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See
Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
Christian Mortensen So, yeah, there is a movie about The legend of Zelda. Yep, that's right. It's a fan film created with almost no budget, so you gotta lower your expectations. I watched the whole movie, and i guess it was OK, but nothing more. The important thing is that they tried. The thing is - they struggle so hard just to follow the games storyline instead of taking the liberties to create their own story, which makes it boring and sometimes really annoying because the only thing Link seems to do is running around and doing what people tell him to do, like in the games. This is a sad fact, It could have been so much more. But it failed at the story, just because they tried so hard to stay true to the original game that the story just becomes lame and boring. And this is spoken by a true Zelda-fan, I know that it's hard to interpret the video game characters personalities (especially Link), the storyline etc but they could of at least twisted the story a little bit or make up their own story with elements from the game, like Sage of Darkness did. While it's not awful - it's not so good either. Awful camera angles (and the camera isn't of top notch quality either) that really annoyed me, average acting, they use way too much greenscreen and CGI effects which make the movie look fake and cheap, but the CGI is okay, since this is a budget fan film. I understand that Nintendo don't want to make a movie for a while, since so many awful Hollywood movies based on games are released more and more often. But god damnit, they did an average job. At least they tried, and i have full respect for that. So, is it worth watching? Well, if you got the time over and is a huge Zelda-fan, then it might be worth a watch. But if you're not really a hardcore zelda-fan i think you might want to skip this one, but hey, give it a try anyway. I would like to thank them for trying and for actually doing something instead of waiting on Nintendo releasing an actual movie. Do you remember last time Link spoke, in that god awful TV-series cartoon? You don't want anything like that to happen again, which i think is one of the main reasons Nintendo doesn't want to make a movie for now at least. Final vote: 5/10.
whittmarine 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' is one of the best told stories ever to cross the gaming screen, so it's a vast disappointment to see that this movie is the exact opposite. I can give a list of all the problems this film has, but it would not fit in this review, so I'll keep it relatively short. Before I start, however, I want to assure you that I understand that it is a fan film and that the standards are much lower than that of a Hollywood film, but only in terms of budget and expenses. If the movie's story is horrid and terribly written, then it is solely its creators.The dilemma of this film can be summed up with three very generalized issues. The first being that the creators know 'what' elements make Zelda games work as well as they do, but they lack the understanding of 'why' these elements are there and 'how' they work. An example would be the Kokiri from the game. Link starts his journey from within the forbidden forest surrounded by kids to give him the sense of isolation. He has no fairy like the others, so he's not quite 'accepted', and he is the only one to question his existence, so none of them (save for Saria who is a sage) 'understand' him. In the movie, they keep the Kokiri, but they remove all sense of isolation. They attempt to make Link feel like he doesn't belong solely on the count that he isn't Kokiri, but since the Kokiri aren't all immature children, the attempt is boot. They all 'accept' and 'understand' him, and no attempt is made to show otherwise (like Mido in the game).The second issue is that they tell the story in such a way that the only way it can work is if the characters--Link, Zelda and Ganondorf-- are stupid. Ganondorf has been reduced to a Saturday morning cartoon version of himself (only slightly better than his representation in the old Zelda cartoon show) with the addition of a minion. Ganondorf has to give all his exposition to him and have the minion do all the work for him, which undermines his level of threat. He's probably the least screwed up of the three.Next is Zelda. Like in the game, her father, the king, does not believe her when she thinks that Ganondorf is evil. It's understandable why the king ignored her in the game since she was just a child and not very wise. It's NOT so understandable in the movie when she's an adult and already possesses the 'Triforce of Wisdom'. It also doesn't help that she hides from Ganondorf by staying right underneath his nose in the most conspicuous outfit imaginable (proven by the fact that she's caught by a guard the first time we see her after the time leap). It's worse that she fights quite decently on her own, a blatant attempt by the filmmakers to show that she is NOT a damsel-in-distress, only to have her captured in the end by a bunch of guards and turn her right back into one.Then there's Link. He's just written stupid. Despite the fact that the filmmakers decide to force an unnecessary romance sub-plot between Link and Zelda, the hero can't recognize his beloved in a disguise that barely covers her face (not to mention that her most prominent feature, her eyes, are the one part that isn't covered at all. You'd think he'd remember that part at least). Going back to the Kokiri Forest, they may have attempted to give him motivation, but it's immediately disregarded once he leaves, so he has no personality as well.The third and final issue is the overall flow of the film. Multiple problems sprout from this such as Link's swordsmanship swinging from 'I rule' to 'I suck' on a whim, the chaotic pacing, and most of all, the climax. To say that the climax is underwhelming is an understatement. What made the climaxes in the games work can be summed in one word: tension. Ocarina of Time showed great 'building' tension by having Link ascend the giant, windy staircase to meet with Ganondorf, 'character' tension by having these two characters confront each other multiple times in the past, and 'unknown' tension by having Ganondorf beat Link in the past so it's unknown whether or not Link is capable of succeeding in the end. This movie does not build, as Link immediately switches from fighting minions to Ganondorf in an instant, has no character, as Ganondorf has never met Link, and Link's only 'seen' Ganondorf once, and the unknown tension is given to a group of guards AFTER Ganondorf is defeated (the biggest treachery of all).Admittedly, I was somehow satisfied when I saw this film for the first time. It has constantly degenerated with each repeated viewing, but it leaves me to believe that there is an audience out there for it who are able to ignore all of these problems. However, that group is a vast minority.
crunk_juice19 I love original The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time video game and beat it when I was six years old. When I was that age, I wanted an LoZ movie so bad. I had dreams about it and everything!I waited for this movie for 4-6 years, following it almost every step of the way, and it finally paid off. I saw this, and it was one of the happiest moments of my life! And when Nintendo shut it down, I was ruined. That was a dark day :( But, not to fear: it's back on YouTube, you can download it in all kinds of places, I have it on my MP3, everyone's happy.I don't get why some people hated this movie. It's better than any crap by Uwe "Toilet" Boll! This is the best video game adapted movie of all time.Now, you do have to approach this movie with an open mind: it's an independent movie. But think about it, the fact that a bunch of college kids in Atlanta, Georgia (with no money) got together, got all their buddies to be in it (with no money) and managed to make this awesome movie that's better than any video game movie out there (with no money), is pretty freaking cool. Yes, there are some pretty fake looking things (The Wig of Time) but if you use a little imagination, you too will realize the awesomeness.Here's the summary (basically the same as Ocarina of Time, but with a few changes) - Link is a young boy being raised by the Kokiri. The Deku Tree's final dying message to Link is that he must fulfill his destiny: leave the Kokiri Forest, meet the Princess of Destiny (Zelda), defeat the Gerudo sorcerer Ganondorf, the Prince of Darkness, and save all of Hyrule. That's the most basic, Reader's Digest version of it.So in conclusion, if you are a Legend of Zelda fan, and won't whine about every little detail from the game not being in the movie (non-pointy ears, a dress being a different color, etc.), and keep an open mind, The Hero of Time will fulfill every childhood fantasy and joy you had when you first played Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo 64 (gold cartridge for the win!!).
thomvic At first when I saw the trailer for this, I dismissed this immediately thinking that no one, in particular a fan made film could possibly make a decent film out of one the best game franchises ever made. But hey I saw it on youtube and I thought to myself 'well it is a fan made film. I'm not expecting a great film so I'll be open minded'. And I'm glad I did because the film wasn't actually that bad for what it is worth.First of all, it is based on Ocarina of Time's plot but loosely. They made some changes which I didn't mind. The casting of the actors - David Blane as Link is so so and that wig doesn't help him. He seems to spit out his lines with not much feeling in it. Hannah Fierman as Zelda does an OK job as the princess, though she cries too much in the film and sometimes makes it more laughable than believable. But the chemistry between her and Link I felt was surprisingly there.A lot of fans of the game will be quick to point out everything they did wrong in this film but for me, I looked more at what they did well. The look of the film was done quite well. The Kokiri Forest was captured very well and it was amazing to see how they managed to do all of it. Saria's casting I thought was done very well and I really liked the actress's performance.The visual effects - hmmmm well some were very dodgy I will admit. The action scenes feel more like you're watching a school play performed rather than anything real.Ganondorf - Adam Boyer as the main villain. The make up and costume department did a decent job on him, though often his acting felt a bit forced too much to my liking. Though he does a good job at the evil laugh, in particular in the climatic battle scene.The music is a highlight. I loved the soundtrack and what they did with a lot of the tunes from the game and it really added to the film.Essentially, this feels more like a TV movie than a real movie and that is what it is. So if you are open to the fact a game like Zelda would be very difficult to adapt to the screen and make it work, I am quite impressed with this adaptation. Come on - it is a fan made film after all and thus if you simply let yourself go with this film, you might enjoy yourself. It is far from perfect but I still admire the makers for their determination to bring Zelda to the screen.