On the way back home, the caravan meets minimal resistance (nothing the four Leaf Village ninja can't handle), but the real trouble begins when they finally make it back home and find that the king has been overthrown by his closest advisor, Shabadaba. Now, Michiru, Hikaru, the four ninja and the circus performers and animals that the prince bought on the last leg of the journey must flee into the jungle in order to survive and retake the thrown. Helping Shabadaba are three ninja from an unknown land who act as mercenaries to protect him. They seem to have strange Jutsu that gives them the ability to turn people into stone, as is evident by the dying king's wounds.
Naruto The Movie 3 follows a lot of the same themes as the overall series. Where we see Naruto grow up and mature from a whiny kid to someone who can handle real responsibility, we see a similar growth in Hikaru, who starts off as a spoiled brat who takes advantage of everything and throws things away as soon as he tires of them. But with Naruto's help, the young prince learns some serious lessons concerning friendship and loyalty.
Of course, the movie also features some great fight sequences, especially when the Leaf Ninja go up against the mercenaries. Not only do we get to see Naruto go feral, but Rock Lee and Sakura don't hold any punches back either. And then, of course, there is Kakashi who wields his Sharingan eye in a very dramatic way.
The disc's special features are also enjoyable. Not only is there an interview with the movie's producers (with subtitles), but there are two featurettes. One focuses on the American voice actors doing a group recording instead of the normal individual ones that they do, and their experiences concerning that attempt. The other good featurette concerns the movie in general and how the different character evolve throughout it. Both are great to watch for any Naruto fan. Another special feature is a trivia game which has quite a few questions about the Naruto universe in general. After you've completed the questions, you get assigned a rank that can take you all the way to Hokage (if you get every question right).
This is a great purchase for fans of the series. Anyone whose been following the show should love the chance to see Naruto in action in a slightly different fashion. While it isn't required that you be extremely versed in the series to know what's all going on, it certainly helps. The story itself is disconnected from the rest of the series, so you don't even need to be caught up on everything that has happened.
