Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara, and Sakura Haruno have moved into the lost pet business. This turns out to be move hazardous than they expected, after they are attacked and Naruto and Temujin, his assailant, fall off a cliff only to be rescued by a mysterious ship. Naruto soon learns that this is a lost Clan who used to control the Gelel stone and are now in search for its recovery to create a place devoid of war, but not everyone on the ship has the same motives...

Naruto the Movie: Legend of the Stone of Gelel (2005, 1 hr, 36 min, 37 sec) is the second Naruto movie to be released. Directed by Hirotsugu Kawasaki and co-written by Kawasaki and Yuka Miyata the action supposedly takes place after episode 160 of the main show.

The story has two main threads. The first seen Naruto learning about Temujin and his people’s quest for the stone of Gelel, whilst at the same time Sakura and Shikamaru discover a futuristic laboratory where children are being kept for nefarious reasons. As such the film actually felt like it had a stronger narrative. For fans of Naruto the film has all the trademark, zany humour and ninja fighting. Story-wise it adds little to the world of Naruto but proves to be a pleasant side trip.

The film comes with a choice of both Japanese and English 2.0 and 5.1 with optional English subtitles with extras restricted to just five trailers for other shows. As the film was released in Japanese theatres the transfer is in 1.85:1, its original aspect ratio, here enhanced for anamorphic playback.

The Animation is just a tad better than the television show, but then again the show for all its faults maintained a fairly high level of animation throughout its run.

I’m sure fans will scoop this one up, to go with the mountain of Naruto stuff already out there. If you haven’t seen the show then that’s not much of a problem as the film does not expect an encyclopedic knowledge to be enjoyed and works well as a stand alone story.

7

Charles Packer