Review of Naruto the Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel

I really enjoy these first three Naruto films. In many ways, they encapsulate what I personally wish the series was and emphasize the qualities of Naruto that I enjoy while downplaying that which turned me away from the series in the end. The way these films expand the universe while giving side characters a lot to do is just great! The plot is fairly similar to the other two Naruto films - Naruto, Sakura, and a third team member (Shikamaru in this case) find themselves ensnared in a conflict that existed before they came along, and now Naruto must address this conflict due to his heroic/idealisticnature. This time, the plot also brings in the Sand Siblings, very welcome additions. Gaara vs that one lightning girl was particularly great.

Temujin is a fairly bland character on his own merits, basically being a stand-in for Sasuke, who is not in this film. However, I enjoyed him nonetheless mainly because I enjoy the aesthetics of knights, and his fighting style made him seem unique in this world of ninjas and trickery. The antagonists are also fairly unremarkable, apart from the fact that they have transformations based off of classic monsters (werewolf, vampire, and some kind of ogre thing?). The big bad in particular is very lame in my opinion. The fight pacing and coreography was so good though. It's very fast-paced and kinetic, and the characters don't spend ten minutes plus on talking in between blows, nothing like the actual series. Plus, the movies don't bother going into maudlin backstories for the villains, and the heroes actually kill their enemies, as you would expect ninja to. Even Sakura gets a good fight!

To me, these movies are great, and I recommend them to all fans of Naruto. This one is my favorite due to my bias for knights and whatnot, but the first and third Naruto films are similar in quality to this one. I never watched any of the Shippuden films so idk how those are. But to me, these films really capture an great sense of adventure and worldbuilding without getting caught up in the melodramatic quagmire that Shippuden later sinks into.