The story had so much potential, what with Naruto going back in time to meet Minato and young Kakashi, but the writers completely screwed it up. The interactions between the queen and her citizens were so fake that I cringed every time the citizens cheered the queen on. Naruto and Minato's interactions were mediocre to say the least, and they didn't even pay attention to Yamato until the very end for an onscreen time of approx. 15 seconds. What was the point of having him in the movie anyways???

This was not worthwhile to watch at all, and this is coming from a person who is super tolerant of anime films which many have found faults in. (show less)

I love Minato. I love his sexiness. I love his strength and devotion. I love how he fathered Naruto. If he didn't exist, Naruto wouldn't exist either! So when this movie came out, I was very excited, hopeful, and happy that there was actually an entire "movie" being made with the notorious father and son! However, contrary to my expectations, Minato hardly got any screen time. When he did, he had his mask on most of the time, and the formidable, once most powerful shinobi in the world was portrayed as a weak, hapless, dramatic man instead of the cool, calculating, analytical man in the original story. The difference in character was so alienating I wanted to cry. Also, instead of character development between Father and Son, there was hardly any interaction. No "bonding" time. What was the point of advertising the movie with Minato and Naruto big on the front cover if they're not even going to spend more than 20% of the entire movie together? And only around 20 minutes of Minato with his mask off. He's always off doing something important and trying to do his mission but apparently it's not good enough because otherwise why else would Naruto have so much trouble?
What's more, in the climax, where Minato and Naruto share this one touching scene, it was corny and weird because frankly, there wasn't real interaction beforehand, so this sudden concentration of emotional moment was straight awkward and disproportionate.
Another complaint is: Why the female characters? There were plenty of other movies with male characters and those were fine. Why, directors, do you feel the need to always put in cliche damsel in distresses that almost always happen to be pretty and in need of some kind of help/rescue? It's overused! I'm not being sexist, I'm a girl myself. But if movie makers continue to use this "female helplessness" in their movies, not only is it overused, it's defeminizing. Continued use of these failed female characters is what's sexist, not me. Why can't there be a good female character? To be honest, it's insulting. Watching these kinds of movies are like a slap to my face.
Also, the movie drags too much. It has one big plot, but no real small details that truly makes a movie whole, let alone a masterpiece. In this way, this movie was incomplete, and left the viewers with no authentic closure. It also fails in the creative section. It has one fight scene happen the exact same way for like twenty minutes straight. If any of you watch the movie you'll understand what I mean. And Minato doesn't do a thing. He's so useless in the movie. What happened to the manly future Hokage? What happened to the feared, mighty Minato? What happened to dangerous Minato? All he did was stand around or be somewhere off screen. I was extremely disappointed that my favorite character was used in such a way.
WHAT THE DIRECTORS DID: Basically, the directors saw how Minato was growing in popularity, especially with some of the recent chapters in Naruto(C), and thought, "Okay, let's make money off that popularity, but oh, since we don't really know anything about the guy, but it's okay. Who cares."
Please, everyone. YOu might consider me harsh. You might think I was exaggerating if you do watch the movie. But I tell you this; my love for Minato has caused me to be very particular with his personality and set of skills. I am simply telling the world how the amount of abhorrence I hold towards this movie and its makers for utterly maiming and killing my wonderful, wonderful, character.
Poor Minato.
Poor Minato. I still love you.
A few good things about this movie was that it had some decent music, and that the animation wasn't too bad. But I still think with some more imagination and creativity, the movie makers could have really taken this "time travel" concept over and beyond expectations. But alas, they have failed to do so. So if anyone of you want to watch this movie, go ahead. It's not exactly a horrible movie. It's decent. My main complaints were the insulting portrayal of some characters, lack of creativity, excitement, suspense, lack of MINATO and lack of fine detail.
Please don't consider this spam. I have only written my thoughts, and I have given it honest critique. Thank you. (show less)