Naruto Shippuden the Movie 5: Blood Prison

Naruto is framed for a crime he didn't commit and is sent to a cruel, evil prison out in the middle of nowhere. What could this prison possibly want from Naruto? Here's a hint, the bad guys all call Naruto “Jinchuriki”, that shouldn't be too much of a shock considering most of the plots revolving around Naruto have to do with Kyuubi in some way. Story: 6 (Fair) Creative plot? Not particularly. If you've seen any of Naruto or Naruto Shippuuden (or any of the movies) you know how these things end up. I of course won't 'spoil' anything about the movie, however there reallyisn't much to spoil anyway. Naruto is brought to this prison, and when I say in the middle of nowhere I mean out in the middle of the ocean on an island, completely cut off from the rest of the world. The leader of the prison seems to be very interested in Naruto, and I mentioned it before; it's because he's a Jinchuriki. Even in movies such as this, I'm always waiting for the big moment! A moment where I will be shocked and excited! But really, in this movie there were times that something very 'plot twisting' would be revealed, and I would think to myself “Oh, was that supposed to be a secret?” I honestly thought it was just common knowledge. The reason I didn't really love the plot to this was because it wasn't what I was hoping for. From the trailer, it gave the impression that this would be a very dark, mysterious film! Wasn't quite the same. Darker than some of the plots in Naruto, sure, but we've seen better. Not much mystery either. I would say the entire plot was 20% action and then 80% talking. The final battle of the movie was pretty exciting though, just something to look forward to! Art: 6 (Fair) Not quite to the level of being 'good'. I personally enjoyed the darker setting (literally darker), a lot of it took place inside of this prison with no lights except for the torch lights. Which added a nice touch for the so called Blood-Prison. There were times that the art look fantastic! The setting would be perfect, nicely detailed background and the characters blended in with it well. However, there were also times that I really felt like the art reached an entire new level of awkward. The characters would occasionally move very oddly, as though all their bones had been replaced with cartilage or they were being held up by strings like a puppet. The bodies just moved in weird ways sometimes. Majority of the art was just your average cel-shading / anime style shading. Nothing too spectacular or breathtaking. Sound: 7 (Good) One thing the anime Naruto does have going for it is the voice acting. Say what you want, but I think Takeuchi Junko does a fantastic job as Naruto, she has a great range of emotions and really captures moments beautifully! Now there's two new characters that appear in this movie that played main roles. First being Mui, our (supposed) antagonist of the movie played by Terasoma Masaki. He's been in a handful of shows, but doesn't often play main characters. He has a nice deep voice. One of the things that bothered me was the lack of emotion expressed for the majority of the movie, though that was a problem with the character and not the voice actor himself. Our other voice actor to look at is Sonozaki Mie, playing the role of Ryuuzetsu. Although she is also a fairly unknown voice actor, she does a pretty good job as Ryuuzetsu. But like Mui, Ryuuzetsu doesn't have much time to shine, at least for the most part of the movie. There are a few rare moments (more toward the end) that she gets to show off her talent of voice acting, but just her average talking was well balanced and wasn't at all annoying to listen to! I can't always say that for the girl characters in anime... Lastly the music! From my experience with Naruto movies, the music had never really stood out to me. Just felt more like background noise, nothing to add on to the scene. I can happily say that this movie did in fact have some nice music that went perfectly with the scenes. During a final battle you want the music to be exciting and intense! The songs used during the last battle were the ones that stood out the most to me, they really added on to the scene nicely! Character: 7 (Good) I'd go anywhere between 6 and 7 on character. There are times when I feel like a character progressed or revealed something interesting about themselves which made me like them more or at least became more interested in them. Naruto – We all know him and his character. A fairly happy guy, stays strong and optimistic most of the time and is all in all a great Shounen character. In this movie, Naruto was forced to act without the use of his Chakra (or at least a very small amount of it) which is quite a change from the other movies or the show. For him, when in doubt he creates about 5000 versions of himself. With the majority of his Chakra taken away, he can hardly maintain the use of one “shadow clone”. That's one of the things I enjoyed seeing in this movie, watching Naruto take action without his usual tricks. Mui – You know...I'd love to say he was a good movie villain, but when you think about it, he's just like any other bad-guy... just lacks a bit on the crazy evil side. Nothing flashy or unique about him. His goals and plans are no different than the ones we've seen in previous Naruto arcs. Not to mention, he's kind of a jackass in ways that other villains weren't. For example, taking the time to beat the snot out of Naruto and several other prisoners when they can't even use their full strength since their strength has been taken away from them. That just seems low, even for an evil guy. But some things are revealed later about his 'true intentions' and even then, it's not that unique. Ryuuzetsu – She was actually a much better character than I expected her to be. She stays beside Naruto for the majority of the movie, helping him out in any way she can, and surprisingly she wasn't a damsel in distress! A girl that can fight and doesn't cry over every little thing? Hell yes I want her in the movie! Enjoyment & Overall: 7 (Good) Even though parts of the movie were slow, it was definitely a step-up from the last Naruto movie! Better characters, better plot and better fighting than the 4th movie. Was it everything I wanted it to be? No, I was really hoping for a more intense movie. But all together it was a decent movie. If you're a Naruto fan, I'd recommend this movie to you. If not, then I doubt you would even consider watching it in the first place. But if by chance you haven't seen Naruto and just want to watch this movie for fun, I'd say that's most likely a bad idea, I can't guarantee you would enjoy it. I'm glad I took the time to watch it though, I hope that if you watch this movie you will enjoy it as well.