I was pretty disappointed in this one, to be honest. The "Naruto" movies are getting pretty formulaic at this point, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as it's executed well and brings SOME new stuff to the table. This film didn't really do that. Most of it is stuff we have seen before, and a lot of the newer things about it weren't executed all that well.
There isn't much to complain about on a technical level. The animation is consistently good for most of the film, and there are some pretty well done battle scenes, particularly the explosive opening with the sky ninjas attacking The Leaf Village. They have even gotten better with their use of CGI. It was a bit eyesorish in a few places, but for the most part, the CGI is much better integrated than it was in the last film. The music was also pretty solid.
In terms of story and character, though, this one left a lot to be desired. I was actually kind of invested in this movie for about the first half of it and it seemed like it was going somewhere interesting, but a lot of it played out in a pedestrian fashion and generally felt like stuff we have already seen before in the previous films.
The big twist with Shinno being a bad guy and that he was deceiving Amaru the whole time wasn't terribly executed, but I just couldn't shake away the feeling that it was all too similar to what we had seen with Master Haido and Temujin in "Legend of the Stone of Gelel." Shinno wasn't even that great of a villain, either. His motivations were pretty muddled and the superpowers that he introduced were too strange to be all that interesting.
There are other things about this film that feel off. The attack on The Leaf Village at the beginning felt less and less important as the movie progressed and ended up feeling like a plot device, the sky ninjas' battleships were destroyed when Shino took care of them after appearing out of absolutely nowhere, and Sakura and Hinata end up being completely useless in the plot.
Even Sasuke's involvement, the movie's big selling point, didn't have much to offer. He had almost no involvement in the story at all apart from showing up in the final 20 minutes to help Naruto fight Shinno. I love Sasuke as much as the next guy, but they honestly could have left him out of this movie entirely and they wouldn't have had to change much. He felt shoehorned in here just for the purpose of fanservice.
This film is filled with so much wasted potential and mostly felt like it was just going through the motions. It isn't terrible by any means, but it isn't really one I'd want to watch again. This one is recommended mainly to die-hard "Naruto" fans who don't want to miss a single adventure.
RATING: C
There isn't much to complain about on a technical level. The animation is consistently good for most of the film, and there are some pretty well done battle scenes, particularly the explosive opening with the sky ninjas attacking The Leaf Village. They have even gotten better with their use of CGI. It was a bit eyesorish in a few places, but for the most part, the CGI is much better integrated than it was in the last film. The music was also pretty solid.
In terms of story and character, though, this one left a lot to be desired. I was actually kind of invested in this movie for about the first half of it and it seemed like it was going somewhere interesting, but a lot of it played out in a pedestrian fashion and generally felt like stuff we have already seen before in the previous films.
The big twist with Shinno being a bad guy and that he was deceiving Amaru the whole time wasn't terribly executed, but I just couldn't shake away the feeling that it was all too similar to what we had seen with Master Haido and Temujin in "Legend of the Stone of Gelel." Shinno wasn't even that great of a villain, either. His motivations were pretty muddled and the superpowers that he introduced were too strange to be all that interesting.
There are other things about this film that feel off. The attack on The Leaf Village at the beginning felt less and less important as the movie progressed and ended up feeling like a plot device, the sky ninjas' battleships were destroyed when Shino took care of them after appearing out of absolutely nowhere, and Sakura and Hinata end up being completely useless in the plot.
Even Sasuke's involvement, the movie's big selling point, didn't have much to offer. He had almost no involvement in the story at all apart from showing up in the final 20 minutes to help Naruto fight Shinno. I love Sasuke as much as the next guy, but they honestly could have left him out of this movie entirely and they wouldn't have had to change much. He felt shoehorned in here just for the purpose of fanservice.
This film is filled with so much wasted potential and mostly felt like it was just going through the motions. It isn't terrible by any means, but it isn't really one I'd want to watch again. This one is recommended mainly to die-hard "Naruto" fans who don't want to miss a single adventure.
RATING: C