I think so. This Movie was released in the middle of the story of Sasuke and Orochimaru in the Manga, it can be said that this Movie was released in parallel with the main story of the currently airing Anime.
That's why the first restriction appears: they don't dare to break the old barriers of the characters, because this could affect the story in the TV Anime. We see the main and supporting characters, Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, Kiba... and their friends, nothing has changed, from personality to strength, those boring shadows just keep going back and forth in the middle of the screen and chanting about the power of friendship... Even Kakashi_ a beloved character, was sent into the "enemy zone" but didn't show anything special. Characters such as the three legendary ninjas, Garra team were also added reluctantly. Especially the villain Hiruko, oh my god what kind of character is this? A little bit of Kakuzu, a little bit of the "childhood underdog" and with Orochimaru's ambition, and in the end he became a loner who just wanted a friend... And next to him was Kakashi, not Naruto, who always comforts and inspires evil people to become good people after that... Where is Naruto? Oh, he's being thrown in the air by his beloved friends in celebration? Wtf what happened to the message of this story? Shounen spirit wins over "the one who doesn't have a single friend, is dying"? There are a lot of problems with the characters' conversations in this movie, many scenes show that what the characters are saying isn't even related to each other. And of course, Hiruko, the villain, with the giant Hologram shadow, is really not portrayed well, if not sloppy and indiscriminate. Character _ the weakest point of this Movie.
About art and music, what our eyes see, what our ears hear: What I like most. Art is so beautiful. I just wish Naruto TV episodes were all drawn like that, the drawings are smooth, the characters' actions are graceful, bearing a clear mark from Masashi. And the forests, the mountains with the huge gates... WOw this is the art of the Naruto world, and this is also commendable compared to the previous 2 movies: this world is very harmonious consistent with the Manga, there are no technologies or other out-of-this-world things in the Naruto story. Hiruko's outfit is also very beautiful. The music is so good, I quite like the main song of this movie.
Regarding the story of the movie, this is a version of a villain and his 3 disciples who have the ambition to become the strongest and dominate the world... perhaps it is not new, it can be said that the story takes place in the second half of the movie, it's like a video game. The story told in the first part has quite a few holes, for example, what is Kakashi's motive for deciding to die, how did he meet Hiruko, why did a ninja like Kakashi hide the secret about his life in front of Hokage, and suddenly reveal it for nothing, and no reaction? And Hiruko thing, why do Konoha and Sand villages want to fight each other instead of joining forces? And there are many more confusing points. I know this is just an unofficial side story, but if they wanted, they could afford to create a more engaging and deeper story, instead of borrowing the spirit of fire, friendship... to tell an uninteresting story and force the viewer to be emotional. Nope. Let a villain be interesting enough to force the main character to trade something, then true emotions will come most naturally. As for this movie, and with Kishimoto's quote at the end of the movie, of course these are characters associated with my childhood, and I've seen this movie several times, they mean a lot to me. But the quality of this movie will only be enough to enjoy for fun.
