Naruto Shippuden, le film : Les Liens

"Bonds" is the second installment in the Naruto Shippuden movie lineup and attempts to weave an emotionally driven story with high-stakes aerial combat and character dynamics. While it delivers some solid animation and fan-service action, it struggles to rise above the clichés of shounen anime films.

The Good: The movie opens with a bang-literally-as the Sky Ninja from the Land of the Sky launch an aerial assault on Konoha. This unique premise provides a refreshing visual element, with mid-air battles and flying fortresses giving the film a steampunk-meets-ninja aesthetic that's rarely explored in the series. The animation, particularly during fight scenes involving Naruto and Sasuke, is crisp and fluid, and it's satisfying to see them temporarily team up again after their bitter fallout.

The core emotional thread is driven by Amaru, a new character introduced as a brave but conflicted medic-nin with ties to the mysterious Shinno. Amaru's relationship with her mentor adds some emotional depth and gives Naruto a chance to reflect on themes of loss, duty, and inner strength.

The Weak: Despite its thematic title, "Bonds" doesn't explore the concept of relationships or emotional ties as deeply as it intends. While Naruto and Sasuke share screen time, their reunion feels hollow-mostly serving as a nostalgia trigger for fans rather than pushing their story forward. The plot also falls into predictable territory: a villain with a god complex, a last-minute power-up, and a final battle where Naruto must (once again) save the day with sheer willpower.

Amaru, though emotionally compelling, is underdeveloped, and her arc is rushed to fit the film's runtime. Shinno, the antagonist, is fairly one-dimensional and lacks the philosophical depth of more compelling Naruto villains.

Final Thoughts: "Bonds" feels like a filler episode with a movie-sized budget. It provides fun action sequences, a glimpse of Sasuke in the Shippuden timeline, and a reminder of Naruto's core values-but it doesn't offer much beyond that. For fans of the series, it's a decent watch with enough spectacle to enjoy. For those looking for deeper storytelling or significant plot developments, Bonds might come off as emotionally thin and formulaic.

Rating: 5.4/10 - Visually engaging but narratively average.

Although the writing for Naruto movies aren't usually the best, this one had some interesting turns. I thought Sasuke would take center stage in much of the action since he was smoldering and shirtless in one of the opening sequences. However, Naruto surprised me by pulling off some amazing stunts throughout the narrative. I'll stop there because there isn't much plot that the synopsis omitted.

Oh, the characters. Looks like we have less emo Sasuke, Sakura and Hinata as the fanservice objects and backups that are still useless in battle, cameos from Kakashi as the voice-over narrator, and Orochimaru as the bedridden grandmother (Sai, Neji, Shino, and Shikamaru play cameos of themselves). There's also the movie-only character Doctor and his apprentice Amaru, who gets to be the one befriended by Naruto (sad Amaru).

As a kid, as a fan of Naruto, I can be super excited to see this movie, of course the first movie as well, I would enjoy this movie completely. But if I can comment on this movie as a mature fan and grew up with the characters, this movie is a shame.

The introduced Sasuke character is so important that he appears on the movie poster next to Naruto, but watch him in action in the movie, Sasuke is just simple an Orochimaru's puppet, and at the same time bait to attract fans, make money for the studio. Wtf???

I watched this movie a few times, and after watching it, what left me was Dragon Ball Z, not the content of the movie. The characters in the movie are too boring, except for the doctor Shinou.

I could sit here all day just listing the silly things in this movie:

• Again, when Konoha was attacked, old lady Tsunade just stood at the window and looked, what the hell
• I'm tired of anyone going with Naruto always arguing with him.

• Despite a well-explained background story, it's hard for anyone not to realize that these villains' machines don't seem to belong in our Ninja world lol
• When Naruto was bitten on the leg by a poisonous fish, Amaru sucked from the wound with her mouth (another detail not in the Ninja world) and super talented doctor Sakura sat there and watched wtf
• The fact that Hinata followed Naruto's group and she acted so normal and boring proves that the characters in this movie are still not properly cared for and deserved.

• And I don't know if the character Shinou was good person or not at the time when he jumped out into the rain of knives to protect Amaru, but with the task of escorting and protecting the client, the Sakura-Hinata-Naruto group is full of Jounins and high level let the people they have to protect run into danger, and what did they do? They slowly come so calmly, wtf are these the responsible Ninja I knew from Garra rescue? I feel a bit disappointed.

• The appearance of the monster Reibi is quite boring (just appeared from nowhere and then fighted)
• Not to mention the fact that Naruto returned to human form from Kyuubi in a second without any injuries wtf remember that Kyuubi's 4-tailed state has skin covered with Naruto's blood
• Maybe the Naruto movie production team can't stop creating characters with the same characteristics as Naruto (with monsters in him, lonely, alienated...) and I'm starting to get bored with the combination these two with each other
• It's great to see Shino of Team 8 showing his strength, but he appears too few, and I don't believe that the number of insects on his body can eat a large ship in the sea
• Shinou suddenly revealed his identity as a villain made me quite uncomfortable, this character could have deceived Naruto and Amaru until the end, he loudly claimed to be a villain for no purpose, so remember him spent 13 years fooling people
• I have to admit Shinou is an interesting character, but in my opinion the battle between Sasuke, Naruto and Shinou is too silly, the dialogue is very low quality, and there is no denying the part where Shinou transforms has some contact Dragon Ball Z lol
• And I know a lot of people would love to see Sasuke and Naruto together, but for me this has crossed the line, now that Sasuke is in the dark, there's no reason for the two of them to be close. Did Sasuke even help the boat save the villagers? Wtf
• At the end, when Amaru panicked and rushed to save Naruto, their friends sitting below calmly laughed and had joke with each other even though Neji knew Naruto was above, too absurd and ridiculous.

I really like Sasuke's presence, but the fact that he's so boring in this movie and Naruto turns into a hero, this really pisses me off. It's not that I don't want Naruto to show off, but remember he's nothing compared to Sasuke at this point. And I'm not impressed with the animation or the music, compared to the previous movie.

I looked forward to the first two Naruto movies when the series was still fresh to me but now, the movies seem like a string of fillers with a bigger budget, with largely unremarkable stories and always a preachy moral. Typically, the only scenes I enjoy in the movies are when more of Konoha's cast of shinobis are used in battle. Honestly, the show might be named "Naruto" but enough of him already. Enough of the unrequited bromance between him and Sasuke too. And I would like to see the women be more useful. On the rare occasion they get to kick butt, they're not even good at it.

Hmm, this has turned into a QQ post about the Naruto series. I don't have much else to say about the movie though. The Leaf Village gets attacked and we do get to see some of its defenders do their thing, but those scenes are woefully sparse and short. Mostly, it's more of Naruto's emo-ness and life lessons. Zzz. They really need to learn from Pixar and adult up their stories a bit....

One of the best Naruto movies I've ever watched !!!!!!!