Naruto Shippuden Movie 1 - Reviews

Now I know it is very cliche that a Naruto fan is doing a review on something Naruto-based, but I believe my opinion is strong on this movie. Of course, you could easily see other reviews from Naruto haters or people who think Naruto is OK, but I think you could take this review honestly even if I am a Naruto fan, and this is my honest opinion.

The Story for the Naruto Shippuden movie seems sort of like a Naruto filler, oh wait, it sort of is since all the movies have nothing to do with the series. But yes, it is basically a filler, so they are not going to make it crazy interesting and make you so hooked that you can't stop eye-bawling it, but they definitely tried to make the story at least interesting so you are able to watch it. And it definitely caught my eye, I mean, everyone who has seen Naruto before has thought to themselves, "Hmmm, what if Naruto died?" Well, basically the people who are in charge of the Naruto anime thought this to themselves as well, and they put it into the first Shippuden movie. The story is basically Naruto, Sakura, Neji, and Lee are going to protect a priestess who can seal the soul of the world-corrupting Moryo while Moryo has risen and is back to take over the world again. It definitely has an interesting plot to it, and I believe it a lot of people agree with me, but it wasn't portrayed so greatly. Not to where it comes close to the manga as of right now, but the writers certainly tried, and I do acknowledge them, but they should've used some better techniques, because a lot of it seemed cliche. They have to protect a princess or the world will end. It has been used plenty before in the Naruto series. But don't get me wrong it definitely is a smart idea.

The art was simply beautiful, and is WAY better than the series is animated. Yes though, it wasn't perfect because some of the things weren't so outstanding, like the CGI knights and the fire they use, but the movie was animated brilliantly, especially some of the fight scenes. The OST was good, but it never convinced me I would really want to download it and listen to it sometime, but what did was the ending theme by DJ Ozma, truly surprised by the fact they would choose a song with such J-pop sound, but it fit well surprisingly.

I think the acting was very well done by each character, but Naruto seemed more impulsive than he usually is. I think really Naruto took out a lot of the enjoyment for me, because he was just SO ANNOYING during the first 25 minutes of the movie, but it got much better after that, and the fights were great. All I could think of was "HELL YEAH!" when Neji pulled out the 64-palm technique and when Drunken Lee made an appearance. I just wish they would put more of the good fighting scenes from the movies and the fillers and put it in the real plot. The Naruto Shippuden movie had it's pros and cons, but if you enjoy Naruto you will probably agree with me that it was well done. If you don't like Naruto, just stay away.

Very good storyline. If you are a fan of Naruto or of anime i suggest giving it a watch you'll thank me for it of you knew me that it HAHA.

First Shippūden movie, and fourth Naruto movie overall. I always thought that movies from big shōnen franchises (like Naruto, but also Bleach, Dragonball...) have often been nothing more than a filler arc with a big budget; still, for some reason I always watch every single one of them, because I’ll admit that at times just unpretentious action is the kind of guilty pleasure I need to relieve the stress. Plus, you never know when an unexpected masterpiece could come your way! Well, this time... it didn’t. This is not what I’d call a BAD movie... the only problem is, if you watched the first Naruto movie and/or most of the various filler arcs, you already saw this. Probably more than once.

STORY: 4/10
The plot revolves around a female priestess, Shion, who, besides prophesising other people's (including Naruto's) death, is the only person able to seal away the demonic spirit of Mōryō, today's form of “Ancient evil in a can”, after some guy whose motives are never explained set it free. Mōryō has set out to retake possess of his former body in order to, you guessed it, take over the world. Naruto and gang (this time Sakura, Neji and Lee) are sent to protect the priestess from a team of four shinobi under the command of the demon.

Now, as basic and seen-before as this plot is, it actually provides a good deal of entertainment, as it is well told as always and full of awesome fight scenes. The problem is, it's quite bland and predictable. Again, like a filler arc with a budget. To be fair, towards the finale there IS a point where it gets pretty damn emotional and moving, almost surprisingly so... but, without spoiling anything, if it ended as at one point they make you think it will, it would have been MUCH more moving and original, but instead they partly ruined a beautiful finale by deciding to go the safe way. The more I think about it, the more I realise what a great chance to really strike the audience’s heart they missed. The running theme of fate and changing one's predicted destiny, while nothing new, is well handled, and so are the comedy scenes,  even if both are at times a bit too “in-your-face”.

CHARACTERS: 4.5/10
The regular bunch of improbably brightly-coloured Konoha ninjas does its job without showing anything besides their usual selves; at least they're all in-character, except for a few overly annoying Naruto moments at the beginning. The original characters for the movie, on the other hand, are nothing new: the villains are your usual bunch of power-hungry evil doers with no depth to them, Shion's guard is your usual selfless and duty-absolving minor hero you can't really grow attached to, and Shion... is basically a filler character: she starts off as a spoiled, rude and arrogant brat, just to later reveal her troubled past so Naruto can say "You're like me!" and go therapist on her ass (seriously, I’m starting to wonder why he doesn’t just start bringing along a sofa, a pipe and a notebook, and asking “Tell me about your mother…” to everyone…), thus making her develop and mature. She IS surprisingly sympathetic in the last third of the movie, especially in the moment I mentioned earlier, probably also because of the few subtle hints suggesting she has feelings for the hero, but that's it. Again, well done, even in its unoriginality it would have been quite involving, IF we hadn’t seen this kind of character development at a dozen times in this very series.

ANIMATION: 7.5/10
As with any Naruto movie, the art and animation is awesome. Not stunning, but consistently good. The battles are all fluidly animated. It loses points, though, for the TERRIBLE CGI of the terracotta army (oh yeah, I forgot. Naruto gets to fight something very similar to the bloody terracotta army...), especially terrible when said army interacts with the characters.

MUSIC: 5/10
The soundtrack... is not BAD, it's just average. At no point, except maybe the final battle, I felt it to be particularly good. It mixes nicely with the scenes, but it never stands out and doesn't help that much to create an atmosphere. I didn't like the ending song, either, but that may be just my personal taste.

CAST: 8/10
Takeuchi Junko as Naruto keeps doing her usual excellent job, consistently throughout the movie but especially during the moments near the ending. The rest of the regular cast is as good as it's always been, but doesn't stand out. The performances for the “miniboss squad”, however, do: an almost unrecognizable Ono Daisuke (Itsuki Koizumi in the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise), Sawashiro Miyuki, Taniyama Kishō and Konoshi Katsuyuki (America and Canada in Hetalia), all pull off really interesting and memorable voices. Even Fujimura Ayumi's (the titular class president/maid in Kaichou wa maid-sama) performance of Shion is really solid, holding the character solidly up in any situation.

OVERALL: 4.2/10
I'm kind of ashamed to admit, I didn't dislike this movie at all. Sure, it's always the same formula we've seen more times than we would have wanted, but it managed to draw me in, probably because it was pulled off competently, without dragging on, and with mostly good visuals. At least, it’s the trademark formula of Naruto, and not of something else. For fans of the series, it will be enjoyable, if a tad disappointing. If you’re looking for something even remotely memorable, don’t waste your time here. If you feel in the mood for just some straight-forward, action-packed, simple and safe entertainment, however, this movie gets the job done. I just hope to see some variations in this formula in the next movies…

This movie was really good. This is one of my favorite anime movies ever. It kept the characters in character and made very good characterisation to the new characters. The story was very good. Everything made sense and was displayed very well. The animation was good and the fighting scenes were great. There were no boring parts. You are hooked from the very begining because of the great catcher at the start. It grabs your attention at the start and you can't wait to see how it will end. It also had a very good climax and close.

I only wanna say one thing

the very very ending killed me😂