Review of the film “Naruto:Ninja Clash In The Land of The Snow” by Douglas. Enjoy.

Popularity: 61% [?]

Country: Japan
Genre: Action
Year released: 2004
Running time: 1 Hour 33 Minutes
Director: Tensai Okamura
Cast: Maile Flanagan / Kate Higgins / Yuri Lowenthal
Review by: M. Douglas
Date of review: 12/22/07

Shonen Jump’s “Naruto” series is quite the giant in anime, with a gigantic following in Japan as well as America. This is sufficient to say that it is the “IT” anime at the moment—people who aren’t even fans of anime know something about Naruto—so it was only necessary for a movie to arrive to please fans alike. “Naruto – Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow” is the first of three Naruto films that are currently out.

“Naruto – Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow” follows Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi on a mission to guard Yukie Fujikaze—a popular actress starring in the hit movie “The Adventures of Princess Gale”—on her way to her next movie venture. With the final scenes in her new film taking place in the Land of Snow, Yukie refuses to go for unknown reasons and attempts to escape only to be caught and brought back by Naruto and his teammates. Naruto suspiciously begins to ponder Yukie’s hesitant nature regarding her return to the Land of Snow and with the introduction of four rogue ninjas that are bent on kidnapping Yukie, what is Naruto to do?

“Naruto – Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow” is the type of anime film that takes place outside the realm of the TV series, bringing an entirely new side story to the Naruto universe. This is no doubt a favorable approach to take regarding series such as “Naruto” that span for dozens of episodes, but it does hinder the way a film is executed. What this ultimately does is bring forth a film that presents great animation and fantastic battles, but does little to accommodate the intriguing plot of the television series. Kakashi is perhaps the only character to receive any character development throughout the entire film who is a main protagonist in the television series. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura get little to no development within the film, instead simply becoming devices used to further move along the films plot along. Take into account the films villains—who are interesting to say the least—but are quickly disposable within the confines of the film and neither get enough character growth or screen time.

Like I stated above, animation alone does not make a film great. With a film such as “Naruto – Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow”, the viewer receives great animation, but the film sadly follows the standard formulaic plot devices that plague so many anime films stemming from animated television series. In the end, the film is great for fans of the television series as well as passive fans, but don’t expect too much from it.

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Final Score

B+

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Trailer

Popularity: 16% [?]