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The Last: Naruto the Movie (2014)

Directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi

Action | Fantasy | Animation

Overview

Two years after the events of the Fourth Great Ninja War, the moon that Hagoromo Otsutsuki created long ago to seal away the Gedo Statue begins to descend towards the world, threatening to become a meteor that would destroy everything on impact. Amidst this crisis, a direct descendant of Kaguya Otsutsuki named Toneri Otsutsuki attempts to kidnap Hinata Hyuga but ends up abducting her younger sister Hanabi. Naruto and his allies now mount a rescue mission before finding themselves embroiled in a final battle to decide the fate of everything.

Rated PG-13 | Length 114 minutes

Actors

Viewing History (seen 1 time)


Date Viewed	Device	Format	Source	Rating
02/20/2020	TV	Blu-ray	Library	8 stars
				(Average) 8 stars

Viewing Notes

Been holding off on watching this, the last Naruto film hence the name, after finally finishing the 500 episode series. The series really fizzled in the last few episodes and now I understand why. This movie really feels like six episodes and I have a feeling that was the case; they produced the episodes then decided to make them into a feature film to end Naruto’s story with a big grand finale. This version, the US release, is also about 5 minutes shorter than the original film so I’m curious what was trimmed. This has been the case with most of all the Naruto films w/their US release which is annoying.

This film (and why I believe it was originally done as episodes besides the fact that there are obvious commercial and episode breaks in the film) explains those last handful of tv episodes and the lack of Naruto or Hinata’s presence because they are the primary focus of this film. This movie addresses how they ultimately (finally) get together as a couple. It’s really nice and a terrific feature with involvement by nearly everyone in the show (most to a lesser capacity but they’re all present).

The fact that they tease Sasuke in the commercials and promos yet he’s in this for less than a minute is hilarious. Despite a few nitpicks (like how the Moon invaders were able to just fly into Hidden Leaf undetected) this is a swell way to finish the series even if I wish they didn’t. IMO they really should have done at least a whole season with these grown up characters (now 2 years older than The Great War) and Kakashi as the Hokage. So much potential to explore these characters at this age and how their relationships have developed. Too much shorthand stuff in those final episodes that would’ve been better served thru a full season but I have a feeling the creators had “500” earmarked so they just stuck to it, which is another reason they did the movie and had those weak filler episodes at the end the run.

Anyways it’s bittersweet to reach this point. I love these characters and I’m sad we won’t get more of their stories and adventures. Granted, this ended in 2014 but I’ve always been behind on this series. The next series is Boruto, Naruto’s son, which I haven’t heard good things about but of course I will watch it now. I actually made the mistake of viewing the BORUTO feature film in the theater on release (went up to Gurnee Mills mall to see it!) not realizing it was set after the end of the Naruto Shippudden series so it was quite confusing to watch. I was only maybe halfway thru the 500 episodes at that time. So basically I had the future of these characters spoiled for me. Doh!

Already decided I’ll probably go back and rewatch all the original Naruto episodes (220 eps in that series) since I haven’t seen those for going on 15 years or so (I initially got into Naruto at the urging of one of my iCrossing co-workers at the time back in 2005; I’d watch some eps and we’d chat thru our company internal chat app about the show).

Yeah, I’m sad it’s over but don’t wanna let go. :(

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