The Legend of Zelda

The Legend of Zelda would be an American-Japanese computer-animated fantsy action adventure film directed by Dean DeBlois, with a screenplay written by DeBlois, Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Bergerand, and Patty Jenkins from a story by DeBlois, and produced by Bonnie Arnold and Shigeru Miyamoto. Based on the videogame series of the same name by Nintendo, the film would be a co-production between DreamWorks Animation and Nintendo, and would star the voices of Jay Baruchel, Hunter Schafer, Michelle Yeoh, Matk Strong, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Cate Blanchett, and Anthony Hopkins.

Development for an animated The Legend of Zelda film would begin in 2021, with The Legend of Zelda co-creator Shigeru Miyamoto being set to produce the film for DreamWorks Animation, while DeBlois would join the film as writer and director in early 2022. The film's plot would be mainly inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, as DeBlois would feel it would be the perfect source material due to it being the first game in the franchise's chronology. The animation team would be composed of both DreamWorks and Nintendo animators in order for the designs to resemble the Zelda video games' designs, while still working with DreamWorks' animation techniques.

The Legend of Zelda would be released in December 21, 2024, to critical and comercial success. The film would gross 749.3 million dolars over a budget of 198 million, and it would be praised by critics for its direction, animation, screenplay, voice acting, musical score, visual effects, and faithfulness to the source material, with many critics calling it one of the best video game movies of all time. The film would earn an Annie Award nomination for Best Animated Feature and an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects, and would win an Academy Award for Best Original Score.

Synopsis
In the kingdom of Skyloft, knight-in-training Link discovers that destiny holds great plans for him when, after the Princess Zelda becomes lost in the legendary Surface after an attempted kidnapping at the hands of the mysterious Ghirahim, he is suddenly called by the Goddess Sword, which reveals him to be the legendary hero who shall save the world from destruction. with the aid of Zelda, Fi, the sword's spirit and Link's guardian,, and Impa, a Sheikah from the Surface, Link must find the bravery inside himself and master the power of the Triforce of Courage in order to stop Ghirahim from releasing his master: the powerful warlord Demise, who plans to unleash his Demon Realm all over the world.

Cast
Additionally, Josh Brolin would make a vocal cameo as Ganondorf in a post-credits scene. Zelda Williams, who was named after Princess Zelda, would make a cameo as the voice of Zelda's maiden. Pete Docter would provide the vocal effects for the Loftwings, giant birds used by the inhabitants of Skyloft to fly ro different locations.
 * Jay Baruchel as Link, a young knight.in training who is revealed to be the prophesied hero that shall stop Demise, and wielder of the Triforce of Courage
 * Hunter Schafer as Zelda, the Princess of Skyloft who gets lost in the Surface, and wielder of the Triforce of Wisdom. Schafer would say that "Zelda wants to be a great princess, but she can't, until she realizes she has to be different from every kind of princess before her".
 * Michelle Yeoh as Fi, the spirit of the Goddess Sword who becomes Link's mentor and guardian.
 * Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Ghirahim, a Demon Lord and Demise's apprentice, who plans to use Zelda's shard of the Triforce to released Demise. Vaughan-Lawlor would voice the character "with a style that is playful, but at the same time feeling like a devoted cultists".
 * Mark Strong as Demise, the Demon King and wielder of the Triforce of Power, who was impresioned by the goddess Hylia, and who plans to gather the remaining shards of the Triforce to destroy the world and absorb it with his realm.
 * Cate Blanchett as Impa, an old woman from the Surface who was part of the Sheikah, and who helps Link and Zelda to follow their destinies.
 * Anthony Hopkins as King Harkinan, Zelda's father and the king of Skyloft, who hopes that his daughter may become an even better ruler than him.

Music
Hans Zimmer and John Powell would compose the film's score, which would feature elements from the video game's score. Powell and Zimmer previousñy worked together on the score for DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda and Kung Fu Panda 2, while Powell previously composed the score for DeBlois' How To Train Your Dragon trilogy.

Zimmer would say that he and Powell would go for "an adaptable approach" for the film's score, in order for the film's themes to adjust to each scene's setting. Zimmer and Powell would create a theme for Link that would "sound coward but with an internal bravery" in order to reflect his character arc, while the two would compose "a royal theme" for Zelda that would "hold give a hint that can be better than what it is", and would feature elements from "Zelda's lullaby" that first appeared in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to te Past, and they would compose a theme for Ghirahim that would reflect that character's mysterious nature, but also can be "threatening and playful".

Additionally, Jónsi would write and perform songs for the film. Jonsi previously wrote songs for DeBlois' How To Train Your Dragon trilogy. DeBlois would hire Jonsi to work on the film's songs because he felt "he completly catches both the spirit of adventure and the heart that is inside the film". Jonsi would work closely with Zimmer and Powell in order to create a soundtrack "whose songs and score blend with and complement each other completly".

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film would have an approval rating of 89% based on 186 reviews, with an average rating of 8.89/10. The film's critical consensus would read, "An action-packed and heartfelt adventure with a sense of wonder and beatifull visuals, The Legend of Zelda adapts the popular franchise by giving fans and audiences a compelling story with great vocals, resulting in a very enjoyable experience for everybody". On Metacritic, the film would have a weighted rating of 70 out of 100 based on 42 reviews, indicating "generally postive reviews".

Sequel
In February 14, 2025, it would be reported that a sequel to The Legend of Zelda would be in development, with Dean DeBlois set to return as writer and director from the first film, and Shigeru Miyamoto and Bonnie Arnold set to return as producers. During the San Diego Comic-Con, DeBlois would reveal that the film would be titled The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and that most of the first film's cast would reprise their roles, with Josh Brolin also reprising his role as Ganondorf from the film's post-credits scene. DeBlois would say that, while the film would be strongly inspired by the Nintendo GameCube game of the same name, it would be "a more original film than the first one".

Trivia

 * The name of "King Harkinan" would come from the 1989 The Legend of Zelda animated series.
 * While the video game Skyward Sword would serve as a primary inspiration for the film's plot, several elements would be altered in order for the story to work as a film, such as Link starting with a somewhat fearful personality, Zelda being a princess (a title which she did held in most games), Ghirahim being Demise's apprentice rather than his sword, and the Time Travel elements from the game's story.
 * DeBlois would explain that he would remove the Time Travel aspects from the story in order to both prevent the film's plot from becoming too convulted, and in order to further develop Link and Zelda's relationship.
 * This would be the second video game-based film to be co-produced by Nintendo, after Ilumination's Super Mario Bros.
 * Ironically, both films would be distribuited by Universal Pictures.
 * Dean DeBlois previously worked with Jay Burachel and Cate Blanchett on DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon franchise.
 * DeBlois would describe the film's theme as "discovering that your heart holds everything you need to triumph".
 * DeBlois would be inspired of the idea of a cowardly Link by the concept of bravery being fighting fear, and the fact that Link's personality in the game's is relatively unknown.
 * While most of the film would be done with computer-animation, the prologue would be done with hand-drawn animation instead.
 * Additonally, the prologue would be a near word-for-word adaptation of Skyward Sword's English prologue, with the screnwriters only partially re-writing it in order to explain certain details to the audience unfamiliar with the original games.
 * Ghirahim's line after Demise is ressurrected, "My humble personage bows before your grandeur", would be a reference to the film Avengers: Infinity War, in which Tom Vaughan-Lawlor's character in that film said the same line to that film's main antagonist, Thanos. According to DeBlois, the line would be added because he felt "that was the best way to incorporate DreamWorks' pop culture-referencing style while keeping intact the character and the franchise".
 * Before Link leaves Skyfall for the Surface, a seller would say "wait, it is dangerous to go only with a sword", before offering some weapons while saying "take one of these". This would be an allusion to the line "it is dagerous to go alone, take this", from the original The Legend of Zelda videogame.