One of the more popular anime series among young viewers is Naruto, the story of a young outcast who is trying to become the best ninja ever.  Viz has been releasing the series in both stand alone volumes and collected uncut sets.  A couple of months ago they released the first Naruto theatrical film on DVD and now they've revisited the title and given it the deluxe treatment.  Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow Deluxe Edition is a three disc set that has a lot of extras, but only the most avid fans will want to double dip.

Series Background:

Naruto is a 12-year-old boy living in a village populated by ninja.  He isn't the best student around, as a matter of fact; he's one of the worst.  What he lacks in discipline he more than makes up for in moxie: He loudly proclaims to anyone who will listen that he's going to be the best ninja ever! The fact that everyone in the village shuns him and treats him badly just makes him even more determined.

There's more to the story than Naruto knows though. Twelve yeas ago, a giant nine-tailed fox attacked the land.  The village all turned out to face the monster, and many ninja were killed, but the creature couldn't be stopped. The only way that the fox could be stopped was for the village elder to sacrifice his life and trap the fox inside a human body:  a baby boy named Naruto.

Shunned by the villagers and without a family, Naruto becomes the class clown.  He figures that it's better for people to be angry with him than ignore him.  That all changes one evening when Naruto is tricked into stealing a scroll of forbidden ninja techniques.  Naruto reads one and miraculously masters the complex maneuver which allows him to make "shadow clones" of himself, countless copies that are solid and not just illusions.

Armed with this technique Naruto manages to become a ninja, goes through advanced training as part of a cell.  He's teamed up with Sakura, a cute girl he has a crush on, and Sasuke, the highest scoring student in their class.  Together they have to go through some rigorous training with Kakashi their sensei and also take on missions to bring needed cash to the village.

The Movie:

Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi have been given a rather cushy assignment, to escort a movie star, Yukie Fujikaze, also known as Princess Gale after her most famous role, to the Land of Snow where she's to shoot her next film.  The problem is that Yukie doesn't want to go and keeps on running away forcing Kakashi to hypnotize her and forcibly put her on the boat.

As the production company gets near the Land of Snow, they discover that Princess Gale had a good reason for not wanting to go to the ice covered land:  she's used to be the real princess of the realm.  She was heir to the throne until her uncle Doto killed her father and took control of the country.  Now Doto wants to capture Yukie since he believes she hold the key to unlocking a treasure hidden inside an ice valley.  It's up to Naruto and his team mates to make sure the young princess stays safe.

I'm not a huge fan of theatrical releases based upon ongoing anime series.  The movies all take place outside of the main storyline, and consequently the events don't have any affect on the characters.  They are entertaining cul-de-sacs, and nothing more.  That's very true for this movie.  It's entertaining enough if you don't think about the plot too much, but it's disappointing knowing that the story doesn't have any real lasting impact.

The plot is pretty convoluted and dumb.  (Why didn't Princess Gale just tell the director she wouldn't film in the Land of Snow or that she had a price on here head there?  For that matter why did someone who wanted to keep a low profile decide to become an actress?)   That's not really a huge drawback however, since the action is pretty frequent and it's easy to overlook plot's failings.  It plays like an extended episode of the TV show and the fights start out right away and come crashing onto the screen at regular intervals.  It has all of the charm that the TV episodes do, with Naruto being a goof-ball but also strongly dedicated to being the best and never giving up no matter what the odds.  If you're a fan of the show, this movie will be fun to watch and entertaining.

This "Deluxe Edition Three Disc Set" includes the movie on the first DVD (the same disc that was originally released two months earlier) a DVD filled with bonus material, the movie soundtrack CD, four large sized postcards, a Naruto CCG playing card ("Multi Shodow Clone Jutsu") and a nice full color booklet that was originally given away in Japan during the movie's theatrical run.  One thing to note is that the movie's theme song, Home Sweet Home, has the English lyrics printed in the booklet but the song doesn't appear on the soundtrack.  All this is packed into a cool metal keepcase.  The only flaw is that the movie and bonus DVDs are housed in the same side of the case, partially overlapping.  Aside from that it's a very nice package.

Audio:

This disc comes with the original Japanese soundtrack in stereo, as well as English dubs in stereo and DD 5.1.   This was a cheap shot, since I really enjoy the Japanese track to the TV series more than the English dub; the voices work much better in the original language.  I was disappointed that I had to choose between the superior soundtrack and a 5.1 mix.  I ended up going with the Japanese track which sounded fine.  I spot checked the 5.1 track, and while I still don't like the way the voice actors sound, the surround effects worked well in the action scenes.  The big battle at the end was enhanced by the sound of ice crashing and daggers flying.  The multichannel track seemed to collapse to a stereo mix after the action was over, but that's not too surprising.

Video:

The 1.78:1 widescreen anamorphic image looks very good.  Like the show, the colors were bright and strong, and the lines were tight.  Happily, digital defects were not prevalent and even aliasing was very minor. The movie looks just like the TV show, but taken up a notch.  The movement is a little smoother, the effects work just a bit better, and there is more movement in the scenes.  It's obvious that they spent a bit more money on this theatrical presentation, and while not a lot more, the movie does look better.

Extras:

The first disc contains the movie as well as a ten minute short Hidden Leaf Village Grand Sports Festival.  This presumably ran before the feature in the theaters the same way that the Pokemon films were introduced by a short.  It's a pretty funny story about a village sports day, when all the different junior ninja cells compete against each other for a week's paid vacation.  Unfortunately Naruto has a horrible case of diarrhea, and he can't seem to find an open bathroom.  Yes, it's filled with low-brow humor, but the short is pretty funny.  There are also trailers to the film and other Viz properties.

The rest of the bonus items are on disc two.  The disc starts out with Making Movies Ninja Style: Behind the Scenes of the US Recording, a 20-minute look at how the English dub was created.  The voice actors as well as the director and producer were interviewed and there are plenty of shots of the dub being recorded.  This is a nice intro to the whole dubbing process for those who aren't familiar with it.

Next up is a ten-minute interview with the voice actors who play Naruto and Sasuke.  They talk about the differenced between recording a movie and a TV show and how much fun it was working with everyone associated with the project.

Message from the Original Author and Cast is a short (less than 5 minutes) featurette where the US voice cast talks about how cool Naruto fans are.  This piece of fluff does feature the original Japanese cast, but they all just echo what the English voice actors said.  As for the author?  His contribution is a short text piece that runs at the end.  He basically says that he's happy the manga and anime is popular in America and to keep watching.  *yawn*

Not sure how an animated feature is created?  Just watch Inside the Animation Studio, a 7-minute overview on animation in general and this Naruto feature in particular.  There wasn't much that was new or surprising, but it would probably be interesting to young viewers.  That is followed by Naruto at the New York Comic Con, another 7-minute featurette that shows the promotion that Viz was doing at the con for the series.  The bonus disc is wrapped up with the original Japanese ending and the original trailer.

Final Thoughts:

While the movie has its charm and is a fun ride, this deluxe edition won't appeal to any but the most ardent Naruto fans.  Retailing for twice the amount of the original release, it's hard to recommend this as an upgrade.  The bonus features just don't have that much value, and while the case is really cool, the soundtrack of instrumental music (which is missing the movie's theme song) isn't that exciting.  Potential buyers should rent this before plunking down their cash to see for themselves if the extras are worth the extra cost.