DVD review (region 2)
Directed by Hajime Kamegaki
Starring the voices of Junko Takeuchi, Chie Nakamura, Shotaro Morikubo, Daisuke Kishio, Katsuyuki Konishi
Release date Out now

A rogue ninja has released a powerful evil spirit, and a young princess is the only one who can stop it. Team 7 – a group of teen warriors (including the titular Naruto) – are given the task of accompanying and protecting the princess as she travels to complete her destiny of saving the world from total destruction…

Naruto is a hugely popular manga serial, having sold over 100 million copies in Japan. It’s branched out into an anime TV series, films, music albums, novelisations, trading cards and video games. This is the fourth outing in the Naruto movie series and it feels like franchise filler.

The film falls flat in every department. Visually, it’s uninspiring with shoddy animation, jarring use of CGI and a distinct lack of imagination or flair. It feels rushed, or perhaps no one involved could be bothered to try very hard. If that’s the case, it’s certainly understandable. The script is appalling, taking its portentous line in gibberish with ludicrous solemnity and limping along at a painfully slow crawl. There are some attempts at humour; at least, I think that was the idea. But pretty much all of them involve Naruto becoming enraged and having a screaming tantrum. They don’t raise a smile or lighten the tone; they’re just annoying.


Which brings us to our protagonist. No reason to root for Naruto, or care about him in any way, is provided here. The film’s main drive for suspense hangs on whether he’ll die or not, since his death is prophesised by the princess (and, apparently, she’s never wrong). But there’s no depth to Naruto at all; your response is likely to waver between irritation and apathy. It’s impossible to be interested in his fate.

Perhaps, by making the supporting cast in Team 7 even more insipid and two-dimensional, the film’s makers hoped to push Naruto as hero by default. It’s true that there aren’t any rivals. Even the villains are dull.

Watching NStM is a somewhat nostalgic experience; it may remind you of sitting through certain god-awful early Saturday morning cartoons as a child, because you didn’t know any better. Yet it’s so tedious, even a child should have little trouble escaping its draw of zoned-out, braindead TV-induced inertia. If you do watch till the end, you’ll be treated to a cheaply absurd finale that makes little sense.

Minimal extras include trailers, music videos and artwork. Adam Hertsgaard

VERDICT: 2/10
Strictly for diehard fans of the Naruto series; though it’s hard to imagine how even they could be satisfied by this inert offering.