Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie

Although I have watched this movie last year, I can't help share my thoughts on how awesome this movie is. This is by far the best among the Naruto movies. For fans of the series, like me, this is the ultimate treat. With great action sequences, plot, new takes on the characters, and some big emotional kick, this movie has it all. For the newcomers, it's just easy to catch up with the happenings. Or if you still couldn't catch up, just ask a friend who's a fan of the anime and he'll easily fill you in.

I'm 18 now but I still can't stop myself from having teary eyes over this movie and that's the reason why I really loved Road to Ninja and the whole series itself.

Imagine that in your life, you have never met a family and one day you meet your surviving family. it's hard to forget, but because the world is different it has to be forgotten

Believe it or not, I have never seen anything Naruto until today. This name though, and the image of the young guy with three stripes on either side of his face, with the yellow spiky hairstyle, and wearing an orange jogging suit has long been familiar to me as a Japanese anime character. However, for some reason or another, I never got a chance nor the interest to see any TV episode nor movie from this franchise before, until my kids convinced me to bring them to watch this film this afternoon on opening day in a local mall.

"Road to Ninja" tells a complicated story where Naruto and his friend Sakura are sent into a parallel mirror world by an evil wizard, where their deepest dreams come true. Sakura, who resents her parents meddling with her life, realizes that her parents have both died as heroes. Naruto who had lived his entire life as an orphan, now enjoys the loving presence of his parents, Minato and Kushima.

Both Naruto and Sakura are still cognizant though that they are living in an illusion that needs to be broken. Powerful ninja battles ensue during the night of the red moon, the only night when the spell can be broken by a mysterious scroll, and Naruto had to invoke the Nine-Tailed Fox within him in an attempt to return their world back to how it used to be.

Despite the fact that I did not even know a single fact about Naruto or his friends, I did not find it difficult to get into the groove of this story. I had to ask a question or two to my son beside me to set me straight on character relationships, but overall it was not too tough to get through.

The story was told very well, without really requiring an in depth knowledge of the animated series. The flashbacks give us the necessary historical background in order to understand better the current situation the characters are in. The clarity of this story development is quite impressive considering this is already the ninth Naruto film!

I can now see why this anime series had been so popular over the years. No wonder this particular installment had just become the highest-grossing Naruto film. I think I might just go watch the first film and really get acquainted with this popular series more.

Road to Ninja is an excellent movie. The soundtracks in the movie are amazing and soothing. The movie focuses on a simple aspect that we humans generally want things that others have and we don't. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. The movie shows how sometimes we wish for some things and how once we get them we realize that it wasn't supposed to be this way. The movie makes you realize a simple truth that everything in this universe happens for a reason that you may or may not find out. But sometimes things are supposed to be the way they are because you may never know what part they play in something much greater. Frankly this movie is for those who are familiar with Naruto. Adding any spoilers for this movie's review would spoil the fun and so as a true Naruto fan I would request you to watch the movie because I am sure you will love it.

The plot is very basic and with some gaps, the secondary characters are little explored, but the strength of this film is the emotional part, the way is explored the alternative of the naruto had parents is magnificent and the saddest I've seen in series, the soundtrack is beautiful as always, but this can be more emersive, magical and the song "no home" is the best I've heard in my life. It is for me, still the best naruto film, the most emotive and the most wonderful.