The Legend of Zelda movie needs to be less Breath of the Wild and more Ocarina of Time

Make no mistake, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has transformed the enduring series for the better. 2017’s epic open-world adventure reinvented every that'd come before with its focus on exploration, out-of-the-box thinking, and player freedom. For many, BOTW marked their first Zelda game – and their favorite. 

The temptation, then, will be for the franchise to go with the Epona it rode in on. Breath of the Wild and its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, account for nearly a third of the series’ all-time sales, and it’s hard now to imagine a return to the more rigid dungeon structure of adventures’ past. 

But it shouldn’t be what drives the new live-action Legend of Zelda movie. Whisper it, but it’s actually another Zelda masterpiece – 1998’s Ocarina of Time – that provides the best, most layered foundation on which to build on for a first Master Sword-style stab at swapping consoles for cinema. 

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A link to the past

Admittedly, we know very little right now about the joint-Nintendo/Sony project, outside of Legend of Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto joining forces with Spider-Man producer Avi Arad, with The Maze Runner director Wes Bell also on board. Yet, there’s an argument to be made that Ocarina of Time will give that patchwork team all the tools required to succeed in what does feel like a pretty thankless task.

First up, its structure. Breath of the Wild, by design, is loose; it encourages a wandering eye and an impish sense of rule-breaking. The Super Mario Bros. Movie, whether you liked it or not, was a success because it was a solid execution of a relatively safe concept. Ocarina of Time offers that same sort of anchoring, while adding in just enough intrigue on top to draw in wider audiences.

At its heart, Ocarina of Time is the ultimate good-versus-evil Hero’s Journey. A young Link is plucked from obscurity in the quaint Kokiri Forest and must do battle with a legion of monsters and miscreants across several locations in the hopes of putting a stop to the despotic Ganondorf. It also hews closer to the sort of realistic look that will be less jarring when Zelda goes into live-action.

The slow escalation all good films need is also already baked-in: heading through the Deku Tree; riding Epona across Hyrule Field for the first time while Koji Kondo’s iconic score swells; sneaking into Hyrule Palace to find Zelda, and getting all the tools Link needs to slay evil in a series of fiendish dungeons. 

Plot twist: he fails. That, when coupled with the time travel aspect introduced later in the game, is a killer hook (or should that be Hookshot?) that actively demands to be adapted as Link’s first tentative steps into theaters. It’s a neat twist on a tried-and-true cinematic concept: a coming-of-age story with the ultimate failure, and what it takes to overcome that.

Aside from the multiverse, time travel is absolutely in vogue right now. Link having to keep going back and forth from his childhood to adolescence to save the world opens things up to the sort of inventiveness that Nintendo is known for, writ large on the big screen. Breath of the Wild, for its sins, leaves the story on the backburner for much of its playtime.

For newcomers, Ocarina of Time also does a far better job than most – and especially Breath of the Wild – of introducing its key elements. Link, Zelda, Ganon(dorf), and the Triforce are all present and accounted for. And for those who have walked that path a million times? Bringing it to cinemas is tantamount to playing the Song of Time, whisking you back to those nostalgic days of CRT TVs, Nintendo Power guides, and having to equip the Iron Boots every 20 seconds in the Water Temple (no, we’re still not over it).

Best of all, if The Legend of Zelda sticks the landing with an Ocarina of Time-style adventure, then audiences can manifest a Majora’s Mask sequel into being. The Hero of Time being caught in a Groundhog Day-style loop filled with paranoia, dread, and a gigantic-ass moon in IMAX? Pure. Cinema. 

In case you needed more convincing, director Wes Bell has previous experience with a project that, if you didn’t know any better, feels like proof of concept for an Ocarina of Time adaptation. 

The canceled movie The Mouse Guard, which you can see a snippet of above, is all lush greenery, tight, imaginative worlds, and a sprinkling of intangible Nintendo magic for good measure. Breath of the Wild, as amazing as it is, revels in yawning chasms and open spaces; they are playgrounds for Link to parasail into a Bokoblin camp and wipe them off the face of Hyrule with naught but a hope, a prayer, and a dazzling use of Ultrahand.

The truth is, The Legend of Zelda movie could be so many things. It could set sail with The Wind Waker, open our eyes to a fantastical realm with Link’s Awakening, or anything in between. The safe choice would be to replicate Breath of the Wild’s formula. Nintendo and Sony Pictures shouldn’t. Instead, Ocarina of Time, much like it did over a quarter of a century ago, could replicate the series’ success in jumping to 3D with another just as bold leap into the unknown.

Hey, listen! For more Zelda treats, check out the best Switch games to play right now.