In a land where despair and hope are in constant conflict, Naruto, along with Sakura and Shikamaru, are thrown into a power struggle between a hypocritical faction creating their own path to peace and the world around them. By showcasing pleasing animation and a handful of new, plausible characters, we are once again served a modest helping of a series that has marked its place in anime history.
Complexity in a plot can have its problems, especially when the writers are restricted to a movie’s worth of time to draw out the intricacies in the story. What starts as a straightforward mission to catch and deliver a ferret soon turns into a, well, complicated mess. With little time to focus on the development of the characters, we are left with just a fluky plot and a handful of neatly animated battles that, most of the time, weren’t all that impressive.
Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru shine as three stand out characters from the main series, and luckily, their audacity carries over to the film to slightly make up for the poorly executed new characters. We’re introduced to an organization owned by Haido, a deceptive man wishing to create a world without war by using the Vein of Gelel, an ancient source of ultimate power. A quickly detestable character who's role can be easily pinned from the start, Haido offers nothing unique to the story other than the cliches that follow his position.
Temujin, one of Haido’s henchmen and also a main protagonist of the story, is one of the only redeeming aspects of the movie. As one of the only (somewhat) developed characters in the film, we learn of his troubled past and his own concept of what it takes to achieve “Utopia”. The other henchwomen include Fugai, Kamina, and Ranke, who serve no purpose other than to show off some interesting animation quirks during the fight sequences.
What can be said in a positive light is that the art and sound of Naruto’s second movie is very nice to look at and hear. While staying true to the series, the art and sound are a step up from what we see on the big screen every weekend. Overall, it’s nothing overly spectacular or out of the box, but the time put in paid off. You’ll especially see the great production values in the handful of fights where a lot of attention was given to details.
It is hard to say whether Naruto: Legend of the Stone of Gelel actually answered the questions lingering in our heads, but we do get to experience an interesting character study, to some degree. The story is nothing worth mentioning, but philosophically we are left with a treat, whether or not a “Utopia” can ever exist or if a “necessary sacrifice” is something acceptable is left to the viewer.
