Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? If you grew up with the Naruto series.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes!
Secret ending? Yes.
Running time: 105 minutes
“Boruto – Naruto the Movie” is the eleventh film in the “Naruto” franchise, and features Boruto, Naruto’s son, as the main character in the movie. It follows his adventures as he tries to find his own path in life, one that is different from his father’s. It features the voice talents of Yūko Sanpei (Boruto Uzumaki), Kokoro Kikuchi (Sarada Uchiha), Naruto Uzumaki (Junko Takeuchi), Sasuke Uchiha (Noriaki Sugiyama), Mitsuki (Ryūichi Kijima), Daisuke Namikawa (Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki), and Hiroki Yasumoto (Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki).
“Boruto – Naruto the Movie” is a big improvement over the previous film, with much more action and less sappy romance (since the heroes are barely past puberty at this point). It manages to balance the air time between the outgoing generation and the incoming batch of ninjas, satisfying us with more battles than ever before. However, Boruto’s characterisation is hit or miss, and whether you like the film or not will hinge on how you ultimately see Boruto.
Highlights
Epic fights
“Boruto – Naruto the Movie” is about ninjas, after all, so you’d expect the fights that are the bread-and-butter of the series. And since the characters have grown into being the respective paragons of their organisations, it makes sense that they are literally epic characters within their world. Their battles certainly reflect the magnitude of their powers, and take place on a scale that dwarfs any fight in the regular anime.
Strong themes
There are several distinct themes throughout the film, such as the dangers of over-reliance on technology, and that of willpower, family, and identity. Interestingly enough, the movie manages to weave the different themes together, playing them off each other to forge a stronger meaning as a result. It helps that Boruto’s journey also mirrors that of Momoshiki’s quest, thus giving us parallels between the protagonists and antagonists.
Descendants of the original characters
Midway through the film, when the children of the original characters start showing up as Boruto’s allies and rivals, it becomes a fun guessing game to see if you can match the new characters with their parents. It serves as a homage and a nostalgic nod to the original stars of the series, especially since our first generation of heroes have become legendary ninjas.
The final alliance of heroes
It’s an awesome gathering of power when Sasuke assembles the original characters to depart on the final quest of the movie. It serves as magnificent send-off to the heroes as we see them at the pinnacle of their skill, but it doesn’t detract from Boruto being the foremost protagonist of the story.
Letdowns
Inconsistent animation standards
While the fights are rendered with a grandeur that’s fitting for the big screen, the regular scenes leave much to be desired. The animation quality in the non-battle scenes seem like they’re more television quality than film quality, which is jarring when it suddenly shifts to the battles. Thankfully, the fights are plentiful, which help mask this inconsistency later on.
Confusing introduction
We can definitely identify Boruto, but his allies are not given a proper introduction, making it difficult to get a handle on things, especially since it begins with a battle. Their identities can be deduced after awhile, but the ambiguity at the beginning makes it difficult to enjoy the fight for what it is, and to figure out what exactly is happening.
Mediocre villains
Momoshiki and Kinshiki are rather one-dimensional characters, to say the least. They are bad guys who exist solely to provide conflict to the hero, and add no other value to the story. They don’t get a lot of screen time though, which is wise considering how shallow they are.
Boruto is too bratty
And the biggest issue would be how entitled Boruto is. If you could hashtag Boruto’s issues, it would say #firstworldproblems. That’s because Boruto has grown up with all sorts of privileges, and his angst feels more manufactured than legitimate. Although his character develops as the story progresses, it just seems that Boruto is acting out, rather than having any serious internal conflict. If you can’t identify with Boruto’s problems, then it just seems like we’re watching the adventures of a spoiled brat.
“Boruto – Naruto the Movie” provides solid action along with good screen time for all of its major characters. However, if Boruto is to helm the series henceforth, it would be a good idea to tone down his angst and play up his other, more likeable qualities.
“Boruto – Naruto the Movie” opens in cinemas 8 October, 2015 (Thursday).
This review was also published on Yahoo.
Leave a Reply