Nintendo (and other video games) at the Movies

[Manspeed]

Movies based on video games. What is it about them that makes them suck so bad? There's a number of tropes on www.tvtropes.org regarding this, namely Video Game Movies Suck.

One could stand to argue that a movie based on a video game rightfully shouldn't be that bad if it's done right.

Most recently I had this idea that's just crazy enough to work: If there were an Earthbound movie, it should be animated in stop motion and directed by Tim Burton. Perfect combination there.

Have any of you guys ever had an idea for a video game-to-movie adaptation that could actually work? Who would direct it? Who would be in it? What would be changed?

[Flint]

Aug 26, 2008 11:48:25 GMT -5 Manspeed said:

Most recently I had this idea that's just crazy enough to work: If there were an Earthbound movie, it should be animated in stop motion and directed by Tim Burton. Perfect combination there.

WORST IDEA EVER!!!

Tim Burton its almost like the opposite style to Earthbound. Earthbound its closer to Peanuts, Pixar or even Disney than Tim Burton (Tim Burton its black and withe with lots of stripes and evil clowns, earthbound its full of color, innocence and a clever sense of weirdness) If I were to chose someone to Make an Earthbound Stopmotion Movie those would be Ardman those clever Brits could pull of the Earthbound style a lot better than Tim.

[TV Eye]

An Earthbound movie should be done by Pixar.

Anyways, why do video game movies suck? Two words. Uwe Boll.

[Koopaul]

The main problem is that the people responsible for making the video games are not involved. Instead we get these guys who have no idea what the game is like making the movie. How can you make a movie about something you have no idea what it's like.

If there was a Mario movie today it should be computer animated, and Miyamoto should supervise.

As for Earthbound...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQUN7QAnMp0

[Manspeed]

Flint hasn't seen James and the Giant Peach. If he did, he'd know that Tim Burton could pull off a Earthbound movie awesomely if the circumstances were right.

[TV Eye]

Aug 26, 2008 15:49:16 GMT -5 Koopaul said:

As for Earthbound...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQUN7QAnMp0

Hahaha, that's a good one. Wait, are you joking?

[Manspeed]

Live action could never work for Earthbound.

Look at this still from James and the Giant Peach and tell me James doesn't look like an Earthbound character:

[Koopaul]

Well I'd still want it to be a musical.

It'd be a movie with a lot of song, dance, silliness and heart.

[Dasher Misire]

Good God Koopaul, no.

A movie for a game should be done by a person who knows what he's doing and knows the series. Look at the upcoming Street Fighter movie that focuses on Chun Li. Then the guy claims he knows what he's doing. Anyone who likes Street Fighter should be aware this guy's a fool.

[Koopaul]

Yeah, that's what I said.

"The main problem is that the people responsible for making the video games are not involved. Instead we get these guys who have no idea what the game is like making the movie. How can you make a movie about something you have no idea what it's like."

I never agreed to that stupid Tim Burton idea.

[Manspeed]

Your idea is even worse. A musical? Come ON...

[Koopaul]

Uh, James and the Giant Peach WAS a musical so is every animated Tim Burton movie.

[wanderingshadow]

The trailer for an Earthbound movie should look like this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRaPaTMiwjc&feature=related

I know it's not a Nintendo game, but I think that Final Fantasy Tactics would make a great movie. Just my two cents.

[Fryguy64]

The main problem is that popular videogames often have very little storyline (Mario, Sonic) or a convoluted and poorly edited storyline (The Legend of Zelda, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy).

Luckily for them, they also rely on gameplay, graphics and sound working in harmony to give you the feeling of escapism that games provides and no other media can provide.

This is why we forgive some games for having poor stories (and even dry hump some of them - such as Zelda and Metal Gear) - because they provide that level of escapism unique to only the finest videogames.

Let's dissect an eagerly-awaited game-to-movie transition for larks, and see why even a movie based on a good game with a relatively coherent storyline (in game terms) is a bad idea:

Metroid

For starters, the original storyline to Metroid is blatantly ripped from Ridley Scott's Alien movies. And don't think a nod to the author in the villain "Ridley" will stop the non-wizened movie critics to look favourably on that.

Secondly, the story of the original game can be summarised as follows:

1. Samus arrives on Zebes
2. Samus kills Kraid
3. Samus kills Ridley
4. Samus opens Tourian and kills Metroids
5. Samus kills Mother Brain
6. Samus escapes.

The rest of the story is her running around dark caves, alone. Don't you find it's always gripping when a film has no dialogue? Aren't you already excited for the inevitable team of Galactic Soldiers who will accompany her?

She jumps around and collects weapons left by the ancient Chozo race. Let's throw in some flashbacks to her time being raised by the Chozo. That ought to pad it out.

I am struggling to think of much else to do with this.

Let's try another movie...

The Legend of Zelda

This will blatantly be based on Ocarina of Time, because it is one of the most famous Zelda stories, and (probably) the first game in the series chronology.

Problem 1: The original game involved a lot of wandering around, fighting enemies to get keys. That has to go.

Problem 2: The character of "Link", if handled correctly, would not speak. Again, this makes dialogue a problem. Scratch that, speech is fine.

Problem 3: A quirk of videogames is that they can combine fun, swashbuckling adventure with dark, brooding adventure. A quirk of film is that this is almost impossible to pull off.

You wouldn't find a film (at least one outside of Japan) that could do Ganondorf's evil destruction of the world, Link's imprisoning in the Sacred Realm, and his feelings of loss as increasingly creepy imagery is thrown at you (Bongo Bongo!!) -- and then successfully combine that with the fun stuff, such as the creepy professor who eats eyeballs, flying around with chickens, and teaching the frogs to sing.

Games can pull it off because disparate elements are tied together by the theme of gameplay. Movies can't pull it off because disparate elements are generally frowned upon.

Then what? Link will have ongoing dialogue with Navi, sword battles with many monsters, meet some of the quirky characters... and finally save the world. The question is - how much of this can you cut out to accommodate the 2 hour running time of an average film? Not much, if you want to keep fans happy... or most of it if you want to make a good film.

There lies another rub. It's impossible to keep videogame fans happy, and many writers/directors have died trying. So why don't any of them just focus on making a great movie? We'll forgive them when it's well-received, even if it's only got a passing resemblance to any games we like. Don't even give the fans subtle nods! That makes your film look cheap!

[Manspeed]

Now that you point it out, a Mario movie would probably be easier to make than a Zelda movie. That first one they made was bad but not for any of the reasons you mentioned.

Aug 26, 2008 20:19:20 GMT -5 Koopaul said:

Uh, James and the Giant Peach WAS a musical so is every animated Tim Burton movie.

I could forgive it for being a musical if all the songs were directly taken from the English MOTHER 2 vocal soundtrack. Then again, Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has the songs taken directly from Roald Dhal's book, so that isn't too much to ask for.

Of all the franchises Nintendo has, Star Fox would probably make the best film. It already is one in some respects. There could even be a bit of gag dialog involving "Do a barrel roll!" somewhere.