“Naruto The Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow” is the first full-length feature animated movie in the Naruto universe. This is very much an original storyline set in the Naruto series which is supposed to take place before episode 101 since the continuity is deemed questionable. After episode 101 of the series, Sasuke Uchiha becomes a missing-nin as he leaves the Hidden Leaf Village to join Orochimaru’s Hidden Sound Village. Anybody who’s been following the Naruto universe should understand the reasons that Sasuke left.
The story introduces a new land called the “Land of the Snow.” Team Seven consisting of: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake are hired to protect and escort an actress named Yukie Fujikaze to the Land of the Snow to finish filming “Princess Fu’un.” In the United States version, it’s called “Princess Gale.” It starts out as the three genin are watching Princess Fu’un at the movie theater. They run into the actress that plays her.
It’s revealed that Yukie Fujikaze is an alias and that she’s an actual princess. She’s heir to the throne to that land. She has a six-sided crystal that the current ruler Dotou Kazahana wants very badly. So far, it’s an interesting storyline as they must overthrow Dotou and restore power to Yukie. It’s revealed that Yukie’s father was the previous ruler before he was overthrown and murdered by Dotou.
This is the first time that a Naruto storyline had featured modern day equipment such as movie cameras and so forth. None of that stuff was present in the anime series or the manga. There’s an actual movie studio and movie set. This was a very fresh idea that sold very well to audiences across Japan.
Also, there are people that wear normal clothes in the movie. In the series and the manga, everybody wore ninja outfits, robes, hakamas, and everything else you’d see in pre-modern Japanese culture. But in this movie, there were people wearing jackets, caps, ties, and everything else.
In terms of technology, there’s a movie theater that was present in the movie. There was even a train with train tracks present. Those were some very interesting elements present in this movie. The typical protagonists such as Orochimaru and members of the Akatsuki are not present in the movie. There’s the strong chance that this takes place before Sasuke leaves the Hidden Leaf Village.
There are original villains that display a special type of armor that amplifies ones own chakra. The enemies have special abilities that enable them to manipulate ice. Overall, this movie has a fresh and original storyline. It has a fresh idea like the movie: “Bleach: Memories of Nobody.”
So far, this movie was very successful where two more sequels were created. And those two sequels have been pretty successful to audiences across Japan. Luckily, there’s finally a dubbed version of this movie. Maile Flanagan, Yuri Lowenthal, and Kate Higgins respectively reprise their roles as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Kari Wahlgren does the voice of Yukie aka Princess Fu’un.
So far, the Naruto franchise has become extremely popular that they’ve made three movies. At the moment, the Naruto series has ended. They have already started on “Naruto: Shipuuden” or “Naruto: Hurricane Chronicles” which is the sequel to Naruto taking place two and a half years later. They’ve already made a Naruto Shipuuden movie.