Naruto The Movie 3: Guardians Of The Crescent Moon Kingdom

Introduction

Another year, another Naruto movie, and this one sounds like George Lucas named it. I mean, seriously, Indiana Jones and the Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom. It would work as a title. Probably not as a movie, but then again, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was another long-arsed title and it didn't necessarily drag the movie down too much. But this isn't Indy, it's Naruto the Movie 3: Long-arsed Title. And just when you thought it was safe to go back into the DVD shop, it turns out that the Shippuden series has movies associated with it too. There may be more orange ninja feature film mayhem next Christmas. But Long-arsed Title is the last of the original series movies, and with its release this Christmas, Manga Entertainment are also releasing a triple pack, which gathers all three films together for your torment, I mean entertainment. Yes, that is a flippant snide tone you detect in my typing. After all, I'm drowning in Naruto filler at the moment, and my enthusiasm for the ninja antics of a twelve year-old ramen addict have long since morphed into a suicidal introspection that threatens to melt my brain. The last thing I needed was more Naruto.


Several years previously, the Hidden Leaf village was plagued by the Nine-Tailed fox demon. The Fourth Hokage ninja sacrificed his life to defeat the menace, and sealed up the spirit in the body of a newborn child. That orphan grew up as Naruto Uzumaki, a mischievous prankster with great ambition. Not only does he want to be a ninja, but he also wants to be the strongest ninja of them all and be granted the title Hokage. He has more than a little competition, the Hidden Leaf village is a community of ninja, and Naruto had great difficulty just passing his entrance exams to qualify as a lowly Genin. Even when he did manage to get his certification, he was assigned to undergo training by the demanding Kakashi, partnered with his rival Sasuke and Sakura, the girl on whom he has a crush.


We're still stuck in the zone of filler, Sasuke has turned to the dark side, and Naruto is doing nothing of narrative significance in the interim. Nothing you may be watching in the current Naruto series releases has any bearing on the events in this film, or vice versa. Team Kakashi has a mission to act as bodyguards for a Prince and his son who are returning home to the Land of the Moon on Crescent Island. That it's a sunny holiday resort is certainly an incentive for Sakura, Naruto and Rock Lee, but that has to be tempered with the indolent and overweight Prince Michiru, and the selfish and materialistic son of his, Hikaru. Michiru is the sort of person who buys a whole circus when his son takes a fancy to a sabre-toothed tiger, and then complains when that tiger roars at him. And of course Hikaru is just the sort of brat that always rubs Naruto the wrong way. They'll have to sort out their interpersonal conflicts swiftly though, as when they get to Crescent Island, they find that the chief minister, Shabadaba has instigated a coup with the aid of three dangerous ninja, and that now Michiru, Hikaru and Kakashi's team are being hunted.

Picture

Naruto The Movie 3: Long-arsed Title gets a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, which typically is a standards conversion, resulting in a soft image, prone to judder. It's not the best way to watch the film, but it isn't overly detrimental to the viewing experience. Naruto's third theatrical outing is certainly well animated, large in scope, and infinitely more enjoyable to watch than the current state of the filler episodes. Having said that, this third film does fall down in comparison to its predecessors in terms of character and world design. Well animated it may be, but it's just a tad bland in comparison. Oddly, the circus and its denizens seem to have escaped from a Ghibli movie, and certainly the ringmaster's character design is at odds with the usual Naruto regulars.

Sound

Here you have a choice between DD 2.0 English and Japanese, along with optional subtitles. Note that the Region 1 release had 5.1 audio as well, so that little oversight may get you thinking in terms of an import if you are a mega-Naruto fan with a big home cinema system. As for me, I was satisfied with the stereo Japanese track, which did just enough in terms of directionality and action to keep my ears happy. There is a question mark over the subtitles however, which while not true dubtitles, are near enough as makes no difference. There may be one or two words out of place, a slightly different phrase used in a couple of places, but otherwise they follow the English dub like ducklings follow their mother. It's a small annoyance, but you don't appear to lose too much in the translation, or rather there are more important anime releases out there to whinge about when it comes to quality control. It also may be a problem of source materials. I haven't see the Viz region 1 release, so it may have the same subtitles as the UK disc.

Extras

The US got a 2-disc deluxe release, but we in the UK have to make do with just a single disc. However, unlike last year's Stone of Gelel, some of the extras do make it onto this disc, although not all of them. Naruto die-hards now have two reasons to import.

The disc gets a nice set of animated menus, which are straightforward enough to navigate.

The Story of Naruto: Growing up a Ninja lasts 23 minutes, and the dub producers and dub cast talk about the movie, the series, and the message of the main character. It gets a little deep at times, and I'm strongly reminded of Brian Conley's "It's a puppet!" shtick. It's a shonen anime!


Teamwork: The Art Of Group Recording offers 7 minutes behind the scenes, where the English dub cast try something a little different and record their lines Japanese style, together in a booth.

Shooting For The Moon: A Conversation With The Naruto Movie 3 Producers is self-explanatory. This lasts 11 minutes, and it's what you need if you want to know about the genesis and intent of the film.

Finally there are trailers for the first two Naruto films, as well as the Naruto TV series.

Conclusion

I enjoyed Naruto The Movie 3: Long-arsed Title, and that was the last thing I was expecting. The series has rapidly plummeted down a cliff of quality, and while the movies have been better, they are also undoubtedly filler, and in terms of the main storyline are wholly unsatisfying. Also, the second movie was not as enjoyable as the first, and following the trend of sequels; you would have expected the same to happen here. In fact it does, Naruto's 3rd movie is worse than the second, but only because of its overall blandness. What story it does have to offer is told well, there are plenty of enjoyable character moments, and it does tick the emotional investment box it needs to keep you from getting too restless. It's just that it's so generic. There's nothing there to really signify it as a Naruto movie beyond the characters. The story would work as well with any of half a dozen other shonen characters taking the Naruto cast's place.


It's because it's filler of course, and if you've seen the 'Naruto meets annoying kid, Naruto befriends annoying kid, then helps annoying kid against evil ninjas, and waves goodbye' storyline once, you've seen it thirty times, as it is the basic filler storyline that keeps getting repeated in the series ad infinitum. What works here, and rarely works in the series, is that the annoying kid, Hikaru is interesting. His story is engrossing, and the way the character is written and developed actually engages the viewer. It also adds dimension in that annoying kid has an annoying father, and that both Hikaru and Michiru have engaging story arcs in the film. It's the simplest of messages, the Naruto staple, that people and friends are more important than power and possessions, and seeing the two work to overcome their spoilt-brattiness to truly become worthy heirs of the Crescent Moon Kingdom is the heart of the film. It works because the characters are written so well, and that the story reaches out and brings you in.


As has happened in all the Naruto films so far, the title character and the other ninja are just there to give the story impetus, and for fans of the show they trot out their signature moves and kick some bad guy butt. There's no narrative progression for them at all. But Naruto does go uber-Shadow Clone in this film, there's some Fox-Spirit fuelled kung fu action, and his finishing move is here as well. But in terms of action, seeing Naruto at work was actually less satisfying than seeing Sakura work out her aggression, simply because Sakura so rarely does. But for me, the ninja star of the film has to be Rock Lee. His hyper-speed taijutsu is all kind of awesome in the series already, but when fuelled by a feature film budget, it results in a thing of beauty. He's the Leaf Village's resident Bruce Lee, and this film gives him some nunchakus to play with. It's been ages since I've skipped back in a Naruto offering to rewatch a scene. I did it twice here.


Naruto The Movie 3: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom (there, I said it) is Naruto by the numbers. It's filler that offers nothing new, certainly doesn't advance the plot, and is pretty disposable. On the other hand, while the story may be old hat, it is told with style and energy, and the animation being of theatrical quality certainly helps make it more watchable. Let's face it; in this terminal decline of quality that exemplifies Naruto these days, this third movie is a rare, and probably final bright spot, before we finally get to Shippuden next summer. The movie triple pack is out the same day as this stand-alone disc. The choice is yours.