Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie (2012) Movie Review
Genre: Animation | Action | Adventure
Director: Hayato Date
Writer: Yuka Miyata
Plot: Naruto and Sakura are captured in a parallel world by Madara, who's intentions are to steal the jinchuuriki from Naruto.
This is the sixth Naruto Shippuden movie and so far, the one movie that could actually count as canon to the main story. I think this is mostly due to the creator of the show, Masashi Kishimoto's involvement in this movie.
The movie starts off as most of the character we are familiar with are on a mission, but this time they notice that their enemies are Akaski members who they have already defeated in the past. The enemies disappear mid-fight and they report it back to the Hokage of the village.
Soon afterward while Naruto and Sakura are together, Madara shows up and puts a jutsu on them transporting them into a alternate world. They soon discover that in this world, everything is either opposite or altered enough where all the character we know are different along with Naruto parents being alive.
To my surprise, this was Sakura's movie just as much as Naruto's movie. We get to see they both grow as characters, individually and their connection to each other. Because this world is opposite, Naruto's parents are alive and Sakura's are not. This give both of them a chance to experience what the other persons lives are like in their own world.
They enjoy it at first, but soon they begins to discover what is missing in this world.
Meanwhile, Madara uses a mysterious enemy to attack the village. So Naruto and Sakura go after him to defeat him and find a way to get back to their own world.
Overall, I ended up really enjoying Road to Ninja. Its not a perfect movie and has flaws mostly in the plot and motivation of the villains but the first half was enjoyable seeing the main characters different and also see character development out of Naruto and Sakura. The elements this movie does right is what I would like to see done in the TV show as well.
Rating:
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