Naruto - The Movie 3 - Die Hüter des Sichelmondreiches

Looking at the many "Naruto" movies, I came across this one and found it to have the lowest score on the IMDb, but you know what? It's still by no means terrible. I think the biggest fault with this film is how it's paced. We spend too much time setting up the prince's son and too late to introduce the villains. Still, Naruto has never really given us a terrible movie and this definitely has its good points. I guess overall it was just okay. The prince's son is pretty annoying at first, but he does get better later. Weird how everyone's mad at Naruto mistreating the son of a prince.

Little do most of them know, he's the son of the hokage! It was nice to see Rock Lee even if he's not quite that useful. The best part was probably the animation. I really do like the villain's powers too, with the ability to turn people into stone. It's been too long since I've watched "Naruto" so I was glad to finally see him in action again. I do like how that crescent island kingdom is drawn. It was cool to feature circus performers (especially the animals!) as side characters who contribute to the final fight. **1/2

Like "Stone of Gelel," this was a film I had only seen once back in the day. I was 13 when it premiered on Toonami, and I felt rather underwhelmed with it. However, upon re-watching it, I am happy to say that, while it has its issues, it's actually much better than I remembered it being.

The story is rather basic, but it's executed quite well thanks to the characters that Naruto and friends meet. Michiru and his son Hikaru are both endearing characters who go through compelling arcs of learning to become better and more caring people. Naruto's friendship with Hikaru felt very appealing and believable, even though there were a few too many scenes of them shoving their new friendship down our throats.

We get to see Kakashi Sensei and Sakura again, and joining them on the journey is Rock Lee. While it is cool to see Rock Lee, I'm rather disappointed that he didn't have much to say or do outside of the fight scenes.

We once again get top-notch animation with really interesting and beautiful settings. Most of the action scenes were pretty good. The action scene taking place at the beach wasn't anything too exciting, but the rousing climax definitely makes up for it.

The movie's biggest downfall is the villains. I'm not going to sugarcoat anything, they were pretty awful. Shabadaba (I can't believe that's actually his name) was one of the most one-dimensional bad guys I've seen in a while, and his henchmen were cardboard cut-outs with no personality. The baddies in the first two "Naruto" films weren't exactly groundbreaking, but they were still good enough to keep my interest. The ones in this film did not.

However, with great animation, an engaging character arc, and an exciting battle at the end, this is still a film that I enjoyed despite its flaws. While it's the weakest of the original "Naruto" trilogy, it's much better than I originally thought and it gets a recommendation.

RATING: B

I watched this one on Netflix after I watched the entire first part of the naruto series. So naturally, I'd have a pretty food understanding of what the characters are capable of and what they look like..

But this movie throws what you know out the window!!

Firstly it's a new artstyle. I don't like change much but it's a dumb reason to stop watching a movie so I ofc trekked on. Whiiich made me realize the other visual inconsistencies. Most glaring one to me, Lee's headband tied around his waist. Lee and Guy both have red headbands. But now Lee's is blue just like everyone else's. Also, the anime pretty much turns Naruto's clones into poofs of clouds ON IMPACT. Even a weak punch will take out his clones. Not on this movie tho... Plus Lee's pain gate face was off too. Just made him look like a Lee tomato for crying out loud. It's very small details, but those all add up to an understanding of what was going on there. The new studio did not have that familiarity so the attention to detail was just not there. It's disappointing though. Most things I noticed would have been remedied by just watching maybe 3-4 episodes but instead they just put out their base level understanding and it shows.

This bare minimum knowledge is also shown during fights. Slight spoilers though I won't reveal anything integral to the actual story. Firstly, Lee has weapons all of a sudden. Then Kakashi seemingly won't use substitution now. One of his signature moves keep in mind. Naruto's sage mode just pops off again and again theyre never allowed to actually strategize like the other movies they just use one of their flashier moves and they instantly have the upper hand.

Which of course makes for a glaringly generic movie. Like ridiculously so. I won't say naruto is the most complex anime in the world but most the stories have interesting parts whether it's from the plot twist, the fight, or the growth. This movie.. had NONE. 0. Zip. Nada. Honestly the first bout 30 minutes is such a snoozefest I was bout ready to turn it off I'm ngl. Talk about basic storytelling. The rest was carried only by the fights that at least did look did look pretty cool visually I can't lie. Though really, the budget is what carried that part. We've seen more memorable fights in the series. More flashy more enticing.... something actually compelling to watch because it will actually change and develop the characters

Tldr: studio change = inconsistency and safe to a generic level writing. Just skip this one if you haven't already seen it. It's not like it's Canon anyway. This junk was not worth the time at all.

Villains were too conventional, storyline was a bit draggy and characters like Kakashi were nerfed pretty bad. I know the movie isn't Canon but it just seemed a bit unrealistic. Also a bit cliche but I really enjoyed the fighting scenes and the animation.

This movie is only worth for the climax. Otherwise boring. Literally I'm slept while watching.