Ranked #1221

Naruto: Shippuuden Movie 2 - Kizuna

[Note: this is a not-so-serious review, because really, the movie doesn't take itself very seriously.]

I went to the theater to see Naruto with very low expectations, in part because I've seen all the Naruto movies so far, and in part because the average age of the audience in the movie theater was 10 years old. Yes, in Japan Naruto caters to the "tween" audience, and I felt like an old lady sitting in the theater, waiting for the movie to start. I expected the movie to be "The Sasuke Movie" but...actually...I'm surprised to say, Naruto was the cool one in this movie. This instantly made it the top Naruto movie, in my humble opinion, and had the best fights of any Naruto movie so far. (I'm pretty sure next summer we'll be treated to another one.)

Story --Naruto movies are not known for their great scripts, but this one actually had some nice twists to it. Since one of the first scenes was of a smoldering Sasuke with no shirt on, I expected most of the action to be from him, but lo and behold, Naruto came through pulled some great moves during the course of the story. As there isn't much plot that the summary left out, I'll leave it at that.

Art --Also standard Naruto film style, some 3D, but not as out of place as the last movie (I thought). Mostly done on the ships, and the villain's hideout, which I hereby dub "The Castle in the Sky." The leaf ninja village seemed like it was trying to be Renaissance Italy for some reason though...

Sound --Nothing very impressive, but not at all bad. The voice acting of the movie-only characters was well done, as I normally get annoyed with the movie-only character voices.

Character --Ah, characters. Let's see, we have Sasuke as a less emo version of himself (yay), Sakura and Hinata as the still-useless-in-fights Naruto backups/fanservice objects, cameos by Kakashi, playing the role of a voice-over explanatory narrator, and Orochimaru, playing the bedridden grandmother (Sai, Neji, Shino, and Shikamaru play cameos of themselves). There's also the movie-only character Doctor and his apprentice Amaru, who gets to be the one befriended by Naruto (poor Amaru). Then then there's Naruto, slightly more mature than usual, still getting slapped around as usual, and showing tantalizing hints of becoming more hentai with each passing day...

Enjoyment --This could be high because my expectations were so low, but actually, I maintain that the awesomeness of this anime comes from when Naruto has to face, and/or use, the chakra of the nine-tails. And use it he does in this movie. It was like the Sasuke rescue-arc battle at the waterfall redone, which to me was the high point of the series. Sadly, there was also the Sasuke lipsticked-winged-monstrosity to be seen (I won't even mention the villain's cheesy "released" [to borrow a Bleach term] form), but I could take that when Naruto's busting out multiple rasengan from his clones and destroying everything in sight.

Overall, a good movie--by Naruto standards.



read more

Okay. So initially, I didn't want to watch this movie because anything with Sasuke and Naruto in that doesn't follow the manga is going to get people's hopes up that they're going to be best buds in the end of the series. But if you are a terrifying Naruto fan to the point of salivating at movie trailers, you need to watch this movie.

In all honesty the story is incredibly patchy - it's the average someone trying to destroy the ninja nations plotline with Naruto befriending a movie character along the way - and if you miss a single minute of it, the story will take a crazy direction you won't understand because you missed a character saying one explanatory line.

Yet do not be disheartened, fellows.

As it goes, about halfway into the usual things we expect from a Naruto movie, things suddenly get extremely kickass. I was actually shocked. It all probably kicks off when Sai shows his moves against the enemy ninjas, then Shino (do not underestimate the bugs), then Naruto in undoubtedly his best fight in any of the movies, then...Sasuke. Like most people, I thought this was going to be a crazy fanservice spotlighted Sasuke movie. It isn't.

Sasuke and Naruto actually end up working together to fight the big scary plot, even if it's for different reasons, and the best thing about the movie is that they retain their personalities from the manga faithfully. Sasuke's arrogance and Naruto's...Narutoness is still the same even in each other's company when they've supposedly just met again after the little Orochimaru hideout incident. In fact, their interaction is so plausible, heart-wrenching and at times amusing in the situation they're in that SasuNaru fans will have a field day complete with picnic and hot air balloon ride.

The sound is good, synchronous with the action and the character themes (Sasuke has a new one that's annoyingly cool and makes you wish he would just trip over a shoelace and ruin his equally cool entrances) are exciting and fit perfectly. The art is comic at times, standard or cringeworthy at others, and so beautiful in some scenes that it makes you want to pause and stare for a second.

So. Despite the initial rubbish story line and flitting between the different aspects of it so fast that you think you're watching an AMV, I have nothing but praise for this movie. I unashamedly re-watched the second half of it two more times. I might go for my third.

9/10 and I recommend, I recommend, I recommend. read more