Film Review: Naruto Ninja Clash in the Land Of Snow

Naruto: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow is the first Naruto movie. It does incorporate the ‘movie element’ of having a movie being staged and filmed within the film, which gives it a very good, feel. But there is that feel of a ‘filler’ episode going on. I’m not sure where in the anime that this is meant to be set, but judging by the beginning part of the movie, with Naruto and the rest being assigned a mission, it does feel like this has turned out to be an elongated episode or filler arc. We can also tell that this is before Sasuke leaves the village, as he is still with Sakura and Naruto.

The story of this movie is that Naruto and the gang have to protect and look after the celebrity of a movie that they saw at the beginning of the film. Along the way they film parts of the scene and encounter problems along the way. The fight scenes are somewhat more ‘snazzy’ than the ones in the anime, but they are hardly any better. However, I just can’t shake the feeling of a filler episode screaming at me. The story itself is nothing special. The fact that they have to protect an actress who is really a ‘princess’ or royalty feels like that they tried to make the first movie something special, but it fails to scream ‘epic’ or even ‘amazing’.

Naruto is his usual self. He is the righteous one, the one who ends up getting in danger and does the reckless stuff. As are the other characters. Kakashi however seems more serious than he is in the anime series. The other characters such as the princess and the main villain are the same as within the anime. The princess is all about giving up and being an actress, but it is Naruto who saves her. We also get Naruto and Kakashi battling out with the two better people of the evil group.

The look of the movie is a tad bit better than what we get with the anime but again that is about it. This movie overall works, but still gives us the feel that this is like a filler episode. I may be wrong and it may be a movie worth it’s name, but I somehow feel that this movie would have worked better if a different story had been placed on top.