Review by Josh

The latest mission for our favorite ninja team? Protect and escort a spoiled actress to her next film set. Oh, and keep her from running away of course! We’re off to the Land of Snow with Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi and Fujikaze Yukie, the actress lacking in ambition. Fujikaze is oddly more resistant of heading to her next film than usual, so much so that Hatake Kakashi is forced to use his Sharingan to “persuade” her to get on the boat. Ah yes, the good old Sharingan eye, ready to help a desperate man out in any situation. Well this certainly isn’t one of those fan fictions, so let’s continue!

Soon after reaching the Land of Snow, the cast, crew, and ninjas are attacked by the inevitable bad guys, who happen to be after the “hex crystal,” a six edged pendant worn by the actress. The plot begins when it’s revealed that Kakashi may know these enemy ninja and has been to this land once before and that the actress Fujikaze is actually Princess Koyuki Kazahana, the rightful heir to the Land of Snow’s throne. More importantly, the enemy is extremely powerful, sporting chakra-enhanced armor, able to defend against any attack our Team 7 ninja can think of, they must quickly retreat.

In true filmmaking fashion, the show must go on! There will be no heading back to safety, the director unanimously decides they will continue shooting the next film. After all, what’s better than REAL deadly ninja trying to kill you in your movie? Oh right, the ninja killing a group of Land of Snow warriors attempting to save you. Even when her closest friend dies in front of her, Princess Koyuki cannot express her feelings of hatred towards the enemy that killed her father and destroyed hope for her country. She believes there is no future for her country that’s never seen a Spring.

Naruto will have none of this negativity! He pleads with the Princess, if you just keep trying, never give up, one day Spring will come!

I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say that the bad guys are defeated and Spring does in fact come to the Land of Snow. Not before a handful of exciting ninja battles, including a supercharged Rasengan!

The animation in DVD release of Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow is amazing. It’s extremely high quality, receiving the utmost amount of attention to detail. The music, as with all other Naruto releases, is incredible as well. Few other shounen anime contain such intense and dramatic audio.

If my description of the movie was less than flattering, please don’t pay attention to it! Yes this Naruto movie is cliche and very predictable, but it’s really enjoyable and shouldn’t be passed over. The quality of animation and music make up for any deficiency in the story or plot. I recommend this DVD to any shounen fan, and any children or teenagers new to anime.

This DVD features a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround for the English audio track. Extras include the Konoha Annual Sports Festival (basically a long poop joke), theatrical trailers for the movie (in English), and promotional videos for other Viz Media properties and the Naruto video games.