Naruto the Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel

Naruto: Movie 2 - Daigekitotsu! Maboroshi no Chiteiiseki Dattebayo! starts out better than the first movie. In fact, I thought the beginning really showed promise. Narutos first encounter with Temujin was really exciting and a really cool idea. That's really where the fun ended for me, and then the choice of story and characters lost me through the middle of the movie. I found this particular movie had a lot of potential compared to the first one, but I feel it fell flat and was a little bit of a let down. Even though I went in expecting a bad movie, it found a wayto get my hopes up and then smash them again. Like the other movies, this one doesn't fit in with the original story very well. It is a mediocre story, but I liked it a little more than the first movie. It was lacking in a lot of areas, but it did have a really interesting premise. I loved the fact that there was an armored fighter from another land (I mean that's the whole reason I gave this movie a try), and his first encounter with Naruto was pretty fun to watch. Though from there I found the story to be a little dry, and I was quite frankly bored at times. It's art and sound were ok, and I was a big fan of Gaara at that time so I was curious what they would do with him, but all in all it wasn't what I had hoped for. Thanks to this movie I ended up skipping the third from the original "Naruto" series. Let me be clear in that this is 100% a filler/side story and it's not for everyone. My advice is to look at the list of characters in this movie and decide if they are characters you can watch no matter what. Keep in mind that like the last few seasons of the original series, this is mediocre at best compared to the canon story that everyone loves. I advise passing, but again, it depends on how tolerable you are to side stories.

**THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN A FEW SPOILERS** I came into Naruto Movie 2: Dai Gekitotsu! Maboroshi no Chiteiiseki Dattebayo! with low expectations due to how much the first movie sucked but it turned out a little better than I have expected. Story: (4/10) The story of Naruto movie 2 begins with a big battle with Gaara, Kankuro, and the sand village people fighting against mysterious armored soldiers. It then cuts to Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sakura on a mission to catch a ferret but are soon interrupted by the mysterious armored soldiers. In terms of story, this movie beats the first movie's story but not by much. I foundthe story to be boring and predictable at many moments but it does attempt to keep the viewer in it by making battles happen left and right. The movie still keeps the trend of the first movie by incorporating modern things in it even though the anime's setting says otherwise and examples of this is a giant moving fortress made out of metal that has a gigantic drill in the front of it, small containment capsules, and a machine that are able to track things down. The story introduces a new things called gegel stones that supposedly can make a utopia even though the origin of the gegel stone clearly explains that people who used it went insane with power and killed each other which doesn't make any sense for Temujin to think that it will make a utopia and surprise, surprise, what do you think happens? Art and Animation: (6/10) The art in this movie was good and the character designs managed to stay consistent much more than the first movie. There were some interesting visual scenes during Kankuro's battle with one of the villains of the movie. The animation for this movie was definitely a step up from the last movie and the anime. Sound: (5/10) The soundtrack in this movie was very forgettable with the best song being the ending song. For some reason the movie used a song that sounds very similar to "The Raising Fighting Spirit" which is Naruto's main theme in the anime and it makes me question why they didn't use that one instead of this new version. Characters: (4/10) The characters definitely aren't the best part of the movie. First off, like always, we have Naruto who is always being an idiot with his shenanigans and is fueled with nakama power to beat any foe that comes his way. Next we have Shikamaru new to group which I'm thinking is because the movie takes place during the time in the anime when Sasuke goes with Orochimaru. Shikimaru does contribute to the plot somewhat but is mostly used for whenever the team needs to fight. Sakura is still the character that doesn't contribute anything to the plot and is used when the team needs to fight. Then we have other newcomers which are Gaara and Kankuro. Their whole role in the movie is to be more allies for Naruto so they can fight off the other villains and are usually put standing around in the background so the creators could remind us that they are still in the movie. Then we have the main character of the movie who is named Temujin. For the most part he is a pretty well developed character with how much backstory we are given about him but my main problem with him is how much he is an idiot. Examples of this is how he follows the people who think that the gegel stones will lead to a utopia even though the whole origin of the stone is explained to him and near the end of the movie he starts to realize all the destruction he has done when in the past we are told that him and the group he is in had destroyed an entire village and even then he still didn't realize how much destruction he has caused? I mean, c'mon. Finally, we have the villains which there isn't really much to say other than that they are very underdeveloped. Enjoyment: (4/10) The action scenes were cool to look at and there was some amount of character development. Overall: (4/10) Naruto Movie 2: Dai Gekitotsu! Maboroshi no Chiteiiseki Dattebayo! is an clear improvement on the previous movie but it still lacks many things for itself to be good.

As some of you know the Naruto movies aren't anything special but that's not to say you can't enjoy them right? First off i'll say i did enjoy this a bit more than the first movie, the action was a bit better and the story wasn't predictable compared to the first. That doesn't mean the story is anything that special but it worked and i was somewhat interested and overall i enjoyed watching it. The plot is nothing crazy, it didn't have any plot twists or unexpected events but it was a thorough and solid story without any plot holes. The animation looked better this time aroundtoo, obviously because technology improves every year but like I said it was better. The characters moved alot more fluently and the action scenes looked smoother, the environments stood out to me as looking alot more detailed and lush as well. The soundtrack wasn't anything good, quite forgettable actually but i'm not expecting much from a movie after all...Still i can't tell if it was simply underused or just not good. The overall sounds were good, all of the overall sound effects sounded crisp and clear and it was pleasant to listen to in headphones. The characters were good, some of my favorite scenes had to do with Gaara and Kankuro who acted as guests. I like both of these characters so it was nice to see them in the movie and not underused, watching Gaara and Kankuro fight was very cool to see considering Gaara has some of the strongest jutsu in the original series. Naruto, Sakura and Shikamaru acted as the main characters and it worked as always. Shikamaru didn't do much but he had his moments and he's a nice presence. The Antagonists this time around impressed me more than the last, even though i knew ultimately Naruto was going to win. This time though, it did feel more intense and the villians gave Naruto and the others much more of a struggle. The end fight especially stood out as being the best part of the movie, Naruto did something that i won't spoil with his Rasengan that was actually really cool. The one thing that bothered me though was the whole "utopia" idea that acted as the bad guys plan. In short, they wanted to make the world a peaceful utopia by using this "thing" that the plot revolved around. The peace aspect is nothing new, but the utopia idea felt kinda out of place. Even the antagonists armor and technology felt out of place, however it had a nice aesthetic to it and it looked cool so i will give it that. Overall it was a solid plot, nothing left unanswered and no plot holes. The characters were good as usual, Gaara and Kankuro were nice editions and the new characters were cool and did what they needed to do. The animation was very good and it sounded great despite the mediocre soundtrack. The story wasn't anything incredible but it wasn't predictable and i was entertained throughout. The action scenes were all very well executed, they were unique and didn't drag on and didn't feel too short. There were some nice light hearted moments as always that made for a good touch. In all, I enjoyed it. If you're a fan of Naruto you'll enjoy it, if you don't like the anime then this isn't gonna change your mind. Nevertheless, fans of the show you would enjoy yourselves just as i did as long as you don't expect anything extraordinary. 7/10 Hope this helped (:

The only problem I had with this movie were the characters and the plotline. I'll try to explain without any spoilers. (Keep in mind that a review is the reviewer's opinion and that you should make your own decision.) While the new characters ones were okay, there were a few times in the movie when their actions either didn't make much sense or were at odds with what was happening around them. However, most of the strange behavior seemed to be intertwined the plot holes. By plot holes, I refer to the numerable questions raised by the actions of the characters and the environment around them. Particularlythe end scene with all of the deaths, the unexplained non-deaths, "where the hell did all that paper come from", as well as the odd(and in my opinion) unreasonable reactions of quite a few characters. (I get that they're ninja, but Naruto is still a kid and a very empathetic one at that. Why did he not react when he saw all those bodies? Then again, that may mainly be the fault of the artists.) ALSO, there are lots of unanswered questions( some relate to the plot holes). A few examples of those are: - How did ******* live after he was mortally wounded? - What is the Stone of Gelel? I get that it's powerful, but what is it? - How did ******* suddenly understand his heritage despite the truth of it never being directly stated? - Why don't the newcomers know about chakra? - Why did they have ***** ****** inside of them? There are a ton more questions that, if answered, would of prevented some major confusion and fixed a few plot holes. But, you will have no idea what I'm talking about since you haven't watched the movie... So, overall, I liked this. (I giggled almost constantly due to my twisted sense of humor.) But, the confusion and plot holes lowered the enjoyment drastically. I am rating this a 6 because, despite its flaws, it was decent. The plot was acceptable, the fight scenes were awesome, and both Gaara and Kankuro were there. P.S. As a hopeless fan, Gaara and Kankuro(mostly Gaara) are the main reasons that I rated this movie as "fair"(6) and not "mediocre"(5). (Their fight scenes were pretty amazing.)