Naruto: Shippuuden Movie 1

Naruto Movie 4 is made specifically to cater to all the Naruto fans out there, just like what you’d expect from a naruto movie. So non-Naruto fans shouldn’t really expect to enjoy this, as much.

The story this time round is about; a group of rogue ninjas who decided to revive a Demon spirit, which could destroy the world if reunited with its body. The only way to prevent this is for the shrine maiden (Shion) to go and reseal the demon, so Team 7 (Naruto, Sakura, Rock Lee & Neji) are tasked to protect her. Just like all the previous Naruto movies this one uses ... the same formula; of them having to protect someone of great importance, getting to know said person and have intense battles along the way. But not only is the actual story somewhat interesting, but the underlying-plot about Shion able to predict people’s deaths helps spice things up a bit.

As I’ve stated earlier, the characters this time round are: Naruto, Sakura, Rock Lee & Neji. If you’ve been watching Naruto Shippuuden then you’d know what to expect from them but like always Naruto is the main focus and he’s annoyingly stupid as usual until, later on. Like always it does do the whole Naruto relating himself to the main character thing but Shion proves to be a fairly in-depth character herself, so it can be forgiven. The bad guys this time are rather imaginative (drug users) but there’s no real reasoning given towards their actions.

This being a movie, high production values are expected and that is exactly what is given. Fluidly animated action sequences, great lighting effects and interactive environments. However it’s easy to tell that some corners were cut in places; like the CG army and fire effects. The music is pretty awesome and matches the moods well but the soundtrack will give the feeling that you’ve heard it before. But one thing no one has heard before is the hilarious ED theme.

Overall this as a typical Naruto Movie that gives the initial feeling of all previous ones, however it’s able to provide a highly entertaining experience. My scoring may be somewhat biased, seeing how I am a Naruto fan, but this is truly an enjoyable movie to watch and probably the best Naruto Movie yet. But expect to see the usual cheesy ending... (this time it’s a Spirit Bomb).

^_^

I was hesitant to watch this movie since I do not like any kind of filler or extra material in general. I try to give it a chance, but I think they usually just don't work. This movie started out with "the death of naruto" which is a silly thing to throw in a side story movie. I was immediately thrown off by this "twist" or whatever they wanted to present it as. Thankfully, the story wasn't too bad, and it had a lot of pluses. When this was released it was by far the best Naruto movie. It is the first movie for the ... second Naruto series after the time skip where he trains with Jiraiya.

As I said, the story isn't too bad in this one. Shion and Naruto have decent chemistry (much better than he did with the girl in the first move from the first series) and that plays an important part in the ending of this movie. The artwork and sound were good, and really it kept my attention until the end. All in all (for FILLER) it wasn't bad. That said, it wasn't great either. As far as fan fare goes, it should have been better.

Yes this movie kept my attention until the end, but I was never on the edge of my seat. I was never excited to see what would happen next, and I really didn't care too much. I think I spent more time focused on the poor excuse of a beginning in this movie that it really took away from the overall enjoyment. This movie should have been better, it was filled with good ideas, but they were overshadowed by the bad. It really is too bad, but as with all extra material you shouldn't ever expect anything "special." That said, it is a high 6 in my book. It was almost good if not shadowed by it's beginning.

All in all this isn't a must see, but not necessarily one you should skip. If you like movies of this nature then give it a look, but don't expect too much from it.

**THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN A FEW SPOILERS**

After the TERRIBLE last impression that the third Naruto movie left with us, we move onto the Naruto: Shippuuden Movie 1 and the new anime which means a new beginning. How well does this movie fair in comparison to the last 3 Naruto movies? It is good enough to completely blow those 3 out of the water.

Story: (4/10)

The story of Naruto: Shippuuden Movie 1 begins with 5 mysterious people fighting their way into a shrine that contains a demon that was able to destroy the world and that demon is soon released. Now it is up to Naruto, Sakura, ... Lee, and Neji to escort the shrine maiden named Shion to it because she is the only one able to seal the demon. The first thing I noticed about this story is how it was the same story as the first Naruto movie because it follows the same formula that the first movie showed. Naruto and his group go on escort mission, they fight the main antagonist's servants, the main character of the movie is captured leaving only Naruto to go save her, and Naruto is able to defeat the main antagonist. But the story in this movie was much better executed than the first movie's story. One of my main problems with the story is that a mission that could end up destroying the whole world was assigned to rookies like Naruto, Sakura, Lee, and Neji and we are not talking about the extremely OP Naruto from the recent episodes of the anime, we are talking about the Naruto from the very beginning of Shippuuden. Why couldn't this mission be assigned to all the team leaders or even Tsunade because I'm sure that they would be able to guarantee the mission ending up an success and not have a 50-50 chance of being able to succeed like Naruto and his group. The ending for this movie was bad. It was never explained how they didn't die in that last scene even though their chances of escaping that was very low.

Art and Animation: (6/10)

The art for the movie was pretty good. The character designs stay consistent throughout the whole thing, the backgrounds look good, and the special power visuals looked good. I also like the use of black shading that they used for one scene. The only thing I didn't like about the art is how they used CGI stone warriors and how they didn't mesh well with the backgrounds. The animation in the movie was good even though it would look clunky at times but still good.

Sound: (5/10)

The soundtrack didn't stand out and didn't make any scenes more intense but the ending song was good. The voice actors did a fine job with the characters and the sound effects were average.

Characters: (4/10)

First we have Naruto who is always his same old self with his shenanigans and telling everyone that he could defeat anybody with the power of friendship at his side. Next we have Sakura who again, like always, is never contributing anything to the plot, come on writers! Please make Sakura an actual important character that isn't just there to call Naruto a baka and to fight the enemies that come their way. Next we have Lee and Neji in which their whole role is to be allies to fight of the main antagonist's servants. Next we have a character named Taruho who is Shion's most loyal bodyguard and that is pretty much all there is to him because he gets killed off very quickly in the movie. Finally, we have the main character of the movie and that is Shion. She pretty much is a more likable version of the main character of the first Naruto movie and she is given more backstory than the other girl. Oh and there is also Kakashi but he is not worth mentioning because he is in only one scene in the movie. The villains are also not worth mentioning because of how underdeveloped they are and how their only motivation is to destroy things because destroying things is cool.

Enjoyment: (4/10)

It had some interesting visuals, good animation, and had some character development in it.

Overall: (4/10)

Naruto: Shippuuden Movie 1 destroys the first 3 Naruto movies with its story, art and animation, and characters but there is still many things that I found wrong with it that it made it not possible for me to call it a good movie.