You know, while I agree that everything you said, this movie left me with a feeling I was unable to shake off: the fact that this felt more like a fanfic brought to life rather than part of the actual series.
When I say \"like a fanfic\" I don\'t mean it in the usual pejorative sense. I mean, the movie has Hinata as a main character, the Hyuuga family and the Byakugan are important to the plot as opposed to the Uchihas and the Sharingan, Sasuke\'s presence is minimal, and it\'s pretty much a love story between Naruto and Hinata when Naruto almost never showed any hint of attraction towards her in the manga, excpet maybe during the last chapters. It has all the elements you\'ll find in any Naruto/Hinata fanfic. And even if I loved every second of this movie, I couldn\'t help but feel it was quite jarring.
Maybe it could have been better if Hinata was a bit more prominent in the actual manga and/or Sasuke and the Uchihas weren\'t such colossal Spotlight-Stealing Squad.
As a side note, I also loved the fact that Sakura finally became a genuine Action Girl, something she stopped being after she fought Sasori.
Don\'t the things you mentioned (Sakura being an Action Girl, Hinata getting the prominence she was denied in the series, Sasuke not stealing the spotlight for once) just mean this movie is working to rectify the flaws of the rest of the series? Just because it\'s the canon version of a Fix Fic doesn\'t mean it\'s actually a fanfic (you can treat it as an Author\'s Saving Throw instead, even though Kishimoto only wrote the story concept rather than the actual script).
Always expect the worst and you can only be pleasantly surprised.
True, but it should have worked better if said elements were introduced in the manga rather than a movie. When I said \"like a fanfic\" I didn\'t mean as a bad thing. Just that the sudden shift of the focus of some elements felt...jarring
Don\'t get me wrong, when I say that I mean it more as criticism of the manga rather than criticism of the movie, which I loved, and made me wish for the manga to be more like it.
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Here at the end, we find our salvation...
My opinion of Naruto is well-established: once one of the greatest shonen manga of all time, it descended into absolute rubbish by the end, atrocious, appallingly-written tripe that shamed all that had come before it by association. The one bright spot left, the one thing Masashi Kishimoto hadn't managed to crap all over, was the Hinata/Naruto relationship (even if he did so by mostly neglecting it). By the end, the only thing I was reading for was to see these two kids get together.
You can imagine my reaction when I heard about this movie.
And you can imagine how I felt once I saw this film (at a cinema screening no less) and found that, unlike most of the disposable filler crap that had comprised the Naruto films, it was actually a really good movie! The NaruHina stuff in the film is absolutely beautiful, that goes without saying, but the film built around it is well worth your time as well. Toneri is actually a serious villain- tied to the bigger picture of the ninja world through his peoples' connection to the Sage of the Six Paths (while also providing a good answer for "if this guy's so powerful, where the hell was he when the battle for the fate of the world was happening?" dilemma) but not shackled to the goddamn Uchiha or Senju like every other thing at the end of the manga had to be, and his plan actually poses a level of threat appropriate to what really is Naruto's REAL grand finale after the damp squib that was Kaguya. Sasuke makes a cameo and nothing more (thank god), underused characters like Sakura and ESPECIALLY Sai get another chance to shine, and the plot has more than its fair share of genuine twists.
There are a few flaws here and there. Hinata comes off WAY too weak in the opening action scene (it's almost like she forgot she's a ninja), Naruto's Love Epiphany happens in an appallingly contrived Dream Sequence that borders on Narm and what happens to Toneri in the final battle looks absolutely absurd (like he's fallen into an overflowing dishwasher). But the film's strengths drastically outweigh them. While Naruto's realisation that he loves Hinata happens too quickly, the build-up between them leading to his Love Confession is paced wonderfully, with the montage of the two of them exploring the ruins of the moon civilisation a special highlight. The action scenes are exceptional, going a long way to reminding you that these characters are superpowered NINJAS, not just cut-price Super Saiyans, and the animation is just top-notch across the board. And yes, this film will melt the heart of anyone who ever shipped Naruto and Hinata, which should be everyone- everything that makes their relationship work is on full display here, and the result is beautiful.
The Last is the ending we truly deserved, a magnificent apology for the farce that the manga became. It's everything I hoped it would be. Wonderful.