Naruto the Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel

While probably the best of the three films that coincide with the original Naruto anime, "Legend of the Stone of Gelel" is still rather mediocre. I'd even say, I like "Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow" better, though a lot of that probably comes down to nostalgia and the fact it helps strengthen the feeling Sasuke had grown a real bond with Team 7 before the editorial mandates led to rather rushed rift that formed between him and his team. I won't lie, the second film has some really fun moments and cool aspects like starring Shikamaru, the design of Temujin, an antagonist who makes use of probably the most underutilized, but useful jutsus, Genjutsu and appearances from the Sand Village, Gaara and Kankuro. However, it's just not very strong with a predictable story, forgettable original characters, one moment that feels very out of left field, and I'm pretty sure it breaks the rules of Genjutsu to add false tension. It also introduces a concept that feels too important to be as throwaway as it ultimately ends up being, the movie being non-cannon and all. Oh, they also left out Temari which is an actual crime against humanity when the Sand Village is a part of the story.

I liked this movie, the second Naruto feature film. I enjoyed the one in the snow a tad better though as I found the story here a bit disjointed as I was not sure where certain things were supposed to be happening or when. Still, like the first film this one too has a nice run time to it of a hour and a half, plenty of time for a nice well developed movie with some really cool fights. The story starts off with ninja from the village hidden in the sand in combat with unknown assailants. It then shits to Naruto, Sakura, and Shikumaru hunting down a ferret for what they think is going to be an easy assignment. They soon find out otherwise as they are also attacked and Naruto is separated from his friends after he has a fight with a strange young warrior clad in armor. They both are injured and taken in by a caravan and soon after Naruto is invited to join this strange organization that wishes to create a utopia. Of course, all is not as it seems and there are plenty of fights to go around. My favorite was the one involving Garaa fighting this strange woman who takes him very lightly which is a very big mistake. The concluding fight is rather good too involving Naruto and this strange man who is a better villain than any of those in the previous movie.

I am quite surprised to find out that they used the name of Temujin in this Naruto movie, did they get any permission to use it for a guy who is bionde and is sacrificing others for some kinda big achievement?

This movie at times was a little bit boring for me and the animation was average at best but nevertheless, I still really enjoyed the fight scenes and I would definitely watch this movie again.

This movie was good but i personally liked the first movie better. The animation in this movie is certainly better the characters were sharper and details has been looked into. the lighting was excellent and was most certainly better than the first movie.

The appearance on Gaara and the others comes as a surprise at the beginning but as the movie progresses one can see that Gaara has no part in the action. That was kind of disappointing and many fans would agree with me on that.

The background was decent throughout the movie(had a slight Indian touch here and there). The storyline is similar to the other ones that appear in the Naruto series so don't expect anything different.

Bottomline...If you are a Naruto fan then you'd definitely like it.