The start alone left me speechless and I couldn't help but watch with anticipation. The story was fun but this felt more like Inuyasha territory rather then Naruto since demons aren't really the usual enemy as for in Inuyasha it's the norm. The first moment of comic relief had me in tears despite it being rather simple. I'm glad there was a moment for Lee to use drunkin fist but the way he "activates" it by eating a liquor dessert just makes me question why Guy doesn't buy more in case he needs them. Shion, despite starting off annoying, gave the most comic relief and by the end became very lovable.

The first "Naruto Shippuden" movie and the fourth "Naruto" movie overall, this one could have been a lot better. It is mostly a decent movie, but many things held it back from being anything spectacular.

The storyline has some cool mythology in it and the priestess is an interesting character with an engaging backstory. A problem, though, is that some things weren't explored nearly enough. The main villain is woefully underdeveloped as they barely showed him at all apart from the beginning and the climax, and we didn't even get to see any flashbacks pertaining to the priestess' backstory until near the end.

The interactions between Naruto and the priestess kept me interested most of the time, even if it undeniably felt rehashed from the previous films. I really like Naruto's teammates in this film, which were Sakura, Neji, and Rock Lee. Neji was his usual awesome self, and I liked that Rock Lee got to have more involvement in here than in "Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom."

The majority of the animation in this film is pretty solid, but there is sadly some really bad CGI used for the stone army. Not only was it hard to get invested when they fought the stone army due to the subpar CGI, but the way the army was defeated felt anticlimactic. However, the fight scenes against the henchmen are some of the highlights of this film as they are exciting, intense, and do a good job of giving everyone the spotlight.

I suppose the themes of this movie are pretty good. It talks about how nothing is inevitable and that people make their own fates. I do think it's kind of strange, though, how the movie ended at the moment that it did. Be sure to watch the post-credits scene, or else the movie will feel incomplete.

I did have a mostly positive feeling after watching this movie, but it definitely isn't a great film by any means and it's not as good as the original "Naruto" trilogy. Despite it's many shortcomings, I still liked it well enough and I'd say it's worth checking out for "Naruto" fans.

RATING: B-

I've been a fan of the Naruto Anime Series since it's glory days. When I got hooked, it was around episode 50 out of the near 300 episodes out today. I've seen them all and I have got to say, the production and writing team are doing their best to destroy this franchise. Horrible filler episodes, lackluster animations, clichéd story lines, and hackney character developments. This entire movie felt like one long and boring filler arc of the Naruto television series. When the action kicked up, it was alright. The animations and choreography were all standard for where the series is right now, but it was nowhere near the quality a feature film should have. The story is just modified from every Naruto movie we've seen before. Just do yourself a favor and re-watch Rock Lee fighting Gaara or Kimimaru, and you'll get more excitement out of it than from this movie.