Review for Boruto The Movie

Introduction

You could call me a card-carrying cynic. Certainly my first reaction to the Boruto character could be described as a weary sigh at yet another cash-in. You’ve come to expect it in our multimedia mega franchise world, the desire to keep on milking a cash-cow long after its sell by date. You have a super popular franchise, millions of fans, and a guaranteed revenue stream, and then the creator ruins it all by actually ending the story. Spin-offs are inevitable, indeed probably obliged by contract. It’s just that it’s very rare to capture lightning in a bottle, and rarer than that to manage it twice. Spin-offs are either identical to the original, which only works in episodic television, police procedurals and the like, or they do something completely different. Naruto is serialised storytelling, which means the latter, and there is a greater chance that a spin-off will fall flat. Still, the Rock Lee comedy show managed to hit an entertaining niche. Maybe the adventures of Naruto Junior will do the same. The creators must think so, as following this feature film, a television show was commissioned which is currently airing as I type.


The Fourth Ninja war ended, the good guys won, and Naruto eventually achieved his dream of becoming the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. He also managed to find time to have a family, a son Boruto, and a younger daughter Himawari, although getting the work-life balance right isn’t easy, not even with Shadow Clones. So now Boruto is the same age that Naruto was when he was teamed up with Sakura and Sasuke under the tutelage of Kakashi. But things are different for Boruto, who has a privileged life with his family, albeit with the expectations that he will do great things like his father. His cock-headed arrogance seems inherited, but not his tendency to look for the easy way to solve problems, and inability to commit.


He’s teamed up with Sarada Uchiha and Mitsuki and mentored by Konohamaru Sarutobi, and the Chunin Exams are about to take place. After being let down by his father one time too many, Boruto decides to prove his worth in the Chunin Exams and surpass his father, and goes as far as trying to get Sasuke to teach him. But once again, he’s tempted by the easy way, a scientific researcher who’s created a ninja tool that anyone can use, regardless of skill or chakra. Meanwhile, there are a couple of strange figures seeking an easy route to power of their own, by absorbing chakra. They’ve targeted the jinchuriki and the tailed beasts, among them the Seventh Hokage.

Picture

Boruto: Naruto the Movie gets a 1.85:1 widescreen 1080p transfer on this disc which is clear and sharp, with strong and consistent colours. Detail levels are good, certainly a lot higher than the TV series, and indeed better than the other Naruto movies. The Hidden Leaf Village has become a Hidden Leaf Metropolis in the intervening years and it shows on screen. The character designs are excellent, with the new characters appealing, while the familiar characters have gained in age and in a few instances, wisdom. The action sequences from the off are the best I have ever seen in the Naruto franchise, fight sequences boldly choreographed and animated.

Sound

You have the choice between DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround and PCM 2.0 Stereo in both English and Japanese, with optional English subtitles. The subtitles have a thin, white font that can be a little hard to read when the screen is busy with action. The audio certainly sounds impressive when it comes to action and music, making full use of the surround set-up, but alas the dialogue is a little too low in the mix, prompting you to ride the remote control through the movie lest the neighbours start banging irately on the walls whenever there is a chakra explosion.

Extras

The disc presents its content with an animated menu. You get a 90 second trailer for the film, and a 30 second trailer, but the big extra is the short animation, The Day Naruto Became Hokage, which lasts 10:26. Disappointingly the only audio available is the English dub, but other than that it’s a typically funny short animation,

Conclusion

Boruto: Naruto the Movie is one of the best Naruto features out there, certainly up there with Road to Ninja in my estimation.

But first, SPOILERS. We in the UK haven’t seen the end of the Naruto Shippuden series on home video, even if it has been streamed on Crunchyroll, and printed in manga form, so I won’t be surprised if many people following the series are as out of the loop as I am when it comes to the conclusion. I’ve already given away the fact that Naruto, Sasuke and Konohamaru survive the end, and if you’ve seen The Last feature film, you’ll know who Boruto and Himawari’s mother is. But let’s face it, watching this film set some 20 years past the end of the series is going to spoil a whole lot of things, characters that are maimed, characters that are now married with children of their own, characters who are conspicuously absent and so on. So if you want to avoid spoilers, it might be worth keeping this movie on your shelf for a decade or so before we catch up.


But why would you want to do that? Boruto is so enjoyable a movie, so well put together that it’s worth risking the spoilers to watch it. It’s so far removed from the end of the series, and more so from where we are now in the DVD releases, that it’s less a case of premature information, than it is a whole bunch of questions that will make you Google. If you can avoid that temptation, you should be okay with Boruto.


It is deceptively familiar at first, if you cast your mind back to that first Naruto series. We have a group of Genin, Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki, who aren’t quite yet a team, but are friends, learning how to be ninja, and about to face their first real challenge in the chunin exams. Boruto’s a lot like his father in some ways, while Sarada has inherited the better traits of her parents. Mitsuki remains something of an enigma, and while there is no rivalry as there was between Sasuke and Naruto, there is something of a romantic potential between Boruto and Sarada. When we first encounter them, they’re on a low ranked mission to deal with a panda/bear, which is one step up from looking for a lost pet.


The difference is really in the setting. This is a world at peace, and all of the trainee ninja come from stable family backgrounds. There are no orphans, no evil plot unfolding in the background, no hidden destiny. Boruto likes hanging out with his friends in cafes, playing video games, and he goes home to a loving family at the end of each day, a caring mother, a cute sister, and occasionally a Shadow Clone of his father.


That’s where the conflict in the film comes in, the emotional core of the story. It’s something that audiences really can relate to, far more than Tailed Beasts and esoteric ninja powers. It’s a simple tale of a father and son and their inability to communicate. Finally having been made Hokage, Naruto is so snowed under with work that he hardly has time to spare for his family, which while his wife can understand, it’s something that’s harder to explain to children. Meanwhile Boruto’s at that point of adolescence where all he wants from his father is to be noticed, and simultaneously be left alone. So he acts out, does the wrong things, succumbs to temptation, and after learning that Sasuke was his father’s rival, chooses him as a teacher.


Of course with this being a feature film, there has to be a feature film level threat, and a reason for some retinal burn inducing action sequences. With the world at peace, this time the bad guys are otherworldly, and as these things go, are probably more dangerous than anything our heroes have faced before. As mentioned, the action in this film is spectacular, but despite this, the story boils down to the events driving a reconciliation between father and son, a father who’s let work keep him away from his family, and a son who is yet to see his dad as anything other than the lame guy who only shows up to lecture him, or stop him from having fun. It’s a story common the world over, and it’s this that makes Boruto: Naruto the Movie such a strong entry in the canon.


Boruto is entertaining, it’s action packed, and can be funny when it need to be. It’s Naruto without the strife and the end of the world drama, and it gives me hope for the Boruto series, which I have yet to catch an episode of. If there’s one niche to be filled, it’s that of a ninja-slice of life comedy, and the characters introduced in Boruto have the potential to fill that niche. The cynic in me surrenders to a top notch movie, one of the best in the Naruto canon.