Naruto The Movie 3: Guardians Of The Crescent Moon Kingdom (Review)
Wednesday, 16th December 2009, 17:34

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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.

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