This review will begin with a disclaimer: I haven’t read the manga. I only remember watching a fraction of the anime, and the rest of the things about the series are something that I only find out from word of mouth (read: spoilers). So this review will look into the movie as a standalone work.
Also fair warning: this review spoils an aspect of the manga… although the premise of the story itself is already a spoiler.
So the end of the Naruto manga came about a movie, titled “The Last.” It mainly focuses on the relationship between the beloved hero Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga, and how it bloomed into something romantic. Thrown into the mix is someone who is planning to end the world, a damsel in distress, an adventure, and of course, action.
The story itself is nothing special. The romance start of the story is nothing out of the ordinary, and the fact that there’s an end-of-the-world prospect, a damsel in distress, and the use of a lot of clichés doesn’t help either. The ending is also quite rushed – I had no idea what in the world happened that led to the result itself, and what Naruto pulled off for that matter.
There were also a lot of things left unexplained (e.g. What happened to the moon in the end?), and Kakashi’s ‘hunches’ are too convenient for the story. There’s also a scene that felt underwhelming, even though it seems like the movie is pushing it to be sad.
However, I must commend the movie in developing the romantic relationship, cliché as it may. There was a push for that romance to happen, yes, but it was something that sprang out naturally from the two rather than coming out of nowhere. In other words, it wasn’t forced.
With that said, it’s pretty clear that the movie was going for the love story, and the “epic story” part was just something thrown into the mix, Naruto being a shounen manga and all.
With these, clearly, the strongest part of the film is the characterization, particularly of Hinata and Naruto. Hinata in particular is portrayed as a complex character: there’s more to her than being just a shy girl who is head-over-heels for Naruto. Meanwhile, Naruto himself is quite well-written, has a fair share of character development, and his feelings towards Hinata was something that came naturally to him. Toneri (whose surname is a spoiler) turned out to be an interesting villain, despite the not-so-interesting plotline that the movie has. His being too overpowered didn’t go too well in the story, though.
The rest of the cast, except for a few, seems to be just there so they can appear in the story. Especially Sasuke Uchiha, who turns out to be there to be a convenient Deus ex Machina in a small part of the film.
My biggest gripe in the handling of characters is the occasional inconsistent characterization. Like there is one particular scene that should have Hinata at least defending herself, but she isn’t.
The art and animation is beautiful, though. There are occasional still frames that are glaringly obvious, but the animation is fluid, the action scenes in particular are well-animated, and the art, especially the scenery art, is consistent and gorgeous. The character designs are okay, nothing too special, but Hinata and Sakura looked particularly stunning. The CGI is okay though – it’s far from blending into the animation, but it gives the story a surreal feeling when used well. The colors are pretty vibrant, too.
To add to that, the art direction is very good at portraying the most subtle of facial expressions. There are also a couple of scenes (talking about the genjutsu scene, and the scene before the credits roll) that are simply stunning.
The soundtrack are all good, and goes well in their respective scenes. The ending theme, Hoshi no Utsuwa (Star Vessel) by Sukima Switch is nice to listen to, and gives a relaxed but happy feeling that the ending has.
Meanwhile, the only flaw that the voice acting has is the choice of Konohamaru’s voice – it’s too young for him. The rest of the voice actors did well. Especially Hinata’s Nana Mizuki – she portrays Hinata perfectly, it’s great that she doesn’t stick to the soft-spoken voice too much (a lot of voice actors do for some reasons), and she can voice Hinata in a resolute voice very well.
Overall, The Last: Naruto the Movie is a nice movie to watch, but it’s not recommended when you are looking forward to a compelling storyline. Though if you are emotionally invested to the Naruto-Hinata dynamic, or you are looking for a good romance story, you may end up liking this movie.
As an end note, no (four) mufflers were harmed during the making of the movie.
Written by Clarist
Posted by Xavier Bartolome