Daily Debate: Could CGI Special Effects Believably Portray Races in the Zelda Movie?

Computer-generated imagery, or CGI, has been used since as far back as the 1950s, when legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock used it for his 1958 film Vertigo. Since then, it’s been really hard to avoid the subject on how frequently CGI is used for all manner of movies, TV, and even video games to an extent. While some see it as diving a bit too deep into the uncanny valley and a cheaper method of getting your ideas brought to life, others see it as the future of media.

This is where we see ourselves in the conversation that’s been going ever since Nintendo announced their next film project to be one involving a live-action adaptation of The Legend of Zelda. One topic that keeps getting brought up is on what races should be represented in the film. While there has been deep discussion on that subject, there hasn’t been much talk on how they should portrayed visually in the movie.

We already know that one route they’re going to go with in order for the actors to portray these larger than life characters is mo-cap suits. This method is used in a lot of Marvel Studios films, and was recently used heavily for 20th Century Fox’s 2022 movie, Avatar: The Way of Water. This method will probably be used if the Zelda movie producer decides to have Gorons represented in it. More humanoid versions of specific races from Hyrule (like the Zora) could possibly get practical make-up effects done for them instead.

When it comes to believable portrayal though, I personally think that it all comes down to the movie’s budget, and who’s working on the special effects. With the examples I mentioned previously, those films had unbelievable budgets, as well as people working on it considering the studios knew they’re going to get their money back with interest. The two Avatar films alone show how much detail they were able to put into each and every aspect of their movies. That’s not to say the companies funding this project don’t have faith in the film.

I mean look at this year’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie as it has become on of the highest grossing movies of this year alone. Just on that, you can reasonably believe they would be able to get the budget to pull off the incredible detail you would need to portray these races. If that recent interview with director Wes Ball is any indication, there is hope considering how much of a Zelda fan he claims to be.

Do you think CGI special effects could believably portray races in the Zelda movie? Would you want them to lean more on practical effects instead of CGI when it comes to that representation? Let us know in the comments below!

Kristen G. Rosario

Kristen G. Rosario is an Editor who joined Zelda Dungeon back in September of 2015. His current goal is to become a full-time video game journalist, hoping to eventually gain a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism. While he pursues that dream, he not only takes care of his adorable dachshund Angel, but also helps run a YouTube channel with his brother. The Zelda series is a quest he hasn’t fully completed yet, but hopes to get there one day.