Review: The Hero of Time

[krizoitz]

So I recently became aware, thanks to a couple of more hardcore Zelda fans than myself (kotukawi and shawnaduck) of the existence and release of a full length fan-made Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time live action film.

You can view the completed work for yourself here. I recommend doing so before reading further. Spoilers (can their REALLY be

Comments

[msondo]

Thanks for sharing this review. :)

I feel a lot of effort was put into the beginning of the film. The first 20 minutes or so was quite artistic, at least relative to the end which turned into an unnecessary gore-fest. I really didn't get the point of the final battle after Ganondorf was killed, especially the sudden decapitation. I think the film started to fall apart when Link throws the burning stake at the Epona Inn.

Overall, I guess we can't be too picky. These were obviously a bunch of fans working on a very limited budget and with whatever resources a bunch of kids have access too. At the same time I've seen really old Luis Bunuel and Fritz Lang films that had only a fraction of the budget and technology available to even the most shoe-string production today and know that you can do so much more with limited resources. What the film really lacked was spirit. I didn't get the same warm fan spirit I got from Legend of Link (the other older fan movie.) LoL didn't take itself seriously but it was so obviously done by passionate geeks/fanboys that the amateurish things that made Hero of Time bad didn't matter, and actually played in their favor in many cases.

Nevertheless, it's stuff like this that adds to the legend that is the Zelda (pun!) franchise, and especially Ocarina of Time.

[krizoitz]

Yeah the torch thing at the farm was pretty ridiculous, and the after Gannon fight was also quite pointless in the overall scheme of things. It reminded me of the scouring of the Shire at the end of the Return of the King, I read it because it was part of the book, but I didn't enjoy it.

[kotukawi]

So I watched it tonight, and what I'm taking away from it is that there was serious good, there was some serious bad, and there was some serious wtf.

Honestly, I liked the artistic approaches on the music. There was some serious awesome right there. The first 20-25 minutes were honestly pretty decent. A lot of the costumes I'll agree were pretty decent as well. And the cinematography and choreography were pretty good as well. And for low budget, the special effects were easily passable.

However, a lot of the dialogue didn't make sense, and the delivery was very hit and miss and oftentimes quite horrible. I will admit that I laughed out loud (at 1:30am to boot) when Ganondorf died (SPOILERZ); literally, after getting run through with the sword (and after Link catapulted over him, wtf?), he just thumped down on the ground. Malon hitting Link in the back of the head with a frying pan seemed very... plot devicey to me. And Talon during the ranch raid and EVERYONE when getting notified of the King's death... those scenes weren't good.

And then there was the lots of weirdness. The scene where Mido(?) tried to steal Link's money and sword was... odd. The personification (and seeming importance) of the Fire Sage was odd (especially since the other sages were nonexistent). Rauru seemed to be doing interpretive dance whilst monologuing to Link (but how could he be monologuing since his lips weren't moving; this was done as well by the guard once the King died). The whole scene with the WEIRD shopkeeper seemed to be deus ex machina for getting him a bow (and was supposed to provide comic relief and/or a reference to the game, I suppose? I don't know).

I mean, sure, it's alright. It won't be something that I'll be willing to watch time and time again like Legend of Link, but I would watch this with friends so that we could MST3K it the entire time. And I would like that.

By the way, I'm convinced that Zelda's "vision" of her with Ganondorf and Link is not a vision but a fantasy or wet dream. Seriously, while Link is impatiently pacing about in Zelda's room, she's just staring.... always watching him... as if she isn't even blinking. That just crept me out, lol.

All in all, I do appreciate the fact that they did it. I probably couldn't do much better. I couldn't organize something this big, and I doubt I could have acted it better. I think the major drawback to this movie is that it tried to fill a few too many checkboxes -- homage to OoT, comedy, drama, AND pseudo-blockbuster thriller (given the attempt at epic fight scenes). However, when a movie is trying to take itself seriously, all of these boxes (especially comedy) are hard to do right, and it feels like it missed the boat on a few of them... which means that it gets somewhat fragmented into the good and the bad.

Kudos to them for trying though! I appreciate it for what it is.