Okay this is something I have been thinking about for a while and I don't have all the details sorted and I don't know how faithful this is to all the games so I don't think anyone will like it but if I was making the Legend of Zelda as a one off movie, not a Tv show like this, here is how I would do it.
First I would make it 2D animated in water colours so it would have a different look to everything else out there.
Second here is what the set up would be. Link would be a poor mute(This gets rid of the problem of finding a voice after all these years that the fans would like)who grew up in a village in the shadow of the castle the young princess Zelda grew up in. like most people with a disability in the past Link would be treated badly by everyone and seen as basically a useless fool who had nothing to offer anyone.
One day when she was a child Princess Zelda would be touring the village with her father the king,when she would meet the young Link and she would be the only person who looked beyond the fact that he couldn't talk and see him as the good person who is full of creative ideas that he is. She would quickly get shoed away by her father and handlers, because she shouldn't be seen with someone like that.
Still we see that over the years whenever she can sneak away from the castle she visits Link so as they grow up they become fast friends. She takes the trouble to learn how to communicate with Link and for his part Link respects her as a person and not just a princess. So we get to watch them grow up as fast friends.
We then become aware that there is an old hermit fortune teller living in the woods who while some of the peasants like Link listen to him none of the Elites like the king respect him or see him as anything other then crazy. He foretells that an evil wizard with an army will arise and that the only hope for the land will be Princess Zelda, she will be the only one who can kill him through a magic power that only the hermit and Link believe she has. Zelda doesn't know who to believe and she doesn't really believe she has this power. Then there is a dark side to the foretelling as well. It seems that if the evil Wizard kills Zelda at a certain place and when the moon is in a certain phase then not just him but his army will become unkillable.
Well when they grew up a evil Wizard(Gannon)does show up and he kidnaps Zelda. The king just thinks it is bandits so he sends a team of knights to save Zelda but they are never heard from. This is when Link decides that he must go after his old friend himself. The Hermit gives him a magic sword and shield to fight Gannon's army with.
Link sets off on his quest and along the way he sees strange sights and meets other people who join him or help him in his quest. In the end he reaches the place the Hermit told him to go on the night in question and in the nick of time he frees Zelda and then the friends working together fight off the army and Zelda unlocks her power and kills Gannon.
They then return to the castle and Link is honored as a hero.
The story would be mostly told through music and visuals, and the animation of Link since it would be told from his view point. Given that it is said that the less dialog a movie has the better it does at the international box office I don't see this as being a problem. It would be an epic animate film where the classical score would be a very important part of the story telling.
As I said I don't know how well this would go over with fans but it is the best idea I could come up with that pays tribute to the games while also telling a story that I think would work in a two hour movie.
What do you think?