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Now that it has been proven that respectable live-action adaptations of beloved comics and manga are not impossible to create, the wheels of pre-production have finally begun to roll on a Hollywood-produced Naruto movie. Director Destin Daniel Cretton has made several impressive action films filled with heart, as seen in both Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and the latest Marvel movie, Spider-Man: Brand New Day. While he seems like the perfect filmmaker to bring Naruto to life, adapting such a dense and long manga into a live-action movie will be no easy feat.
The story of Naruto spanned 700 manga chapters, including 18 arcs that each introduced a plethora of fascinating characters with their own abilities and backstories. While the epic tale primarily focuses on the young man who grew up as an ostracized orphan striving to gain acceptance, the narrative quickly expands into deeper themes revolving around empathy, an examination of human nature, and the long-term effects of violence and trauma on a society. If the live-action Naruto movie can explore such themes while nailing other important aspects, the film could become a masterpiece.
Naruto's First Risky Mission Is Almost A Perfect Starting Point
Most Hollywood adaptations of beloved franchises buckle under their own weight by trying to do too much in too little time. This often results in important moments or characters being completely overlooked or not given the time and attention they deserve. By choosing to do a movie instead of a series, the Naruto live-action adaptation has a lot of ground to cover in establishing its ninja-filled world and large cast of complex characters.
Since the franchise is so popular, the movie shouldn’t spend too much time explaining the world and instead should follow Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi on a single mission. Similar to the manga’s Land of Waves arc, which effectively established and grew Team 7's brilliant dynamic. Masashi Kishimoto's clever inclusion of Zabuza and Haku as the first major antagonists broke down the common conception of what cold-blooded ninja assassins should be and confronted them with Naruto's empathic perspective, a theme that would carry on throughout the story and one that the movie shouldn’t lose sight of.
In order to condense the story and more quickly connect it to larger events in the Naruto world, the movie should instead focus on Orochimaru as the primary antagonist. By including him, the plot can easily begin to plant seeds towards events like Sasuke's turn and the Akatsuki group. It would also provide a considerable challenge and test of the young Team 7 and help build upon arguably the most important part of the story, the dynamic between Naruto and Sasuke.
Naruto and Sasuke's Dynamic Will Be Pivotal
Naruto and Sasuke's characters are more than vehicles in providing the franchise's best battles; they are both lynchpins that represent the narrative's most prominent themes. Both characters have suffered extreme loss and loneliness, but how it transformed them is completely opposite. While the loss of Sasuke's friends and family left him with a thirst for revenge and rage that led him towards several dark choices, Naruto's lack of family or friends growing up left him with feelings of loneliness so deep that he actively works to prevent others from experiencing that same pain.
Watching the two characters evolve throughout the entire series and eventually clash is what helped Naruto's ending age like fine wine. It's highly unlikely that one live-action Naruto movie will be enough to cover the entirety of the journey of the two young ninjas' relationship. However, the key to engaging existing and new fans is to focus on the Naruto and Sasuke dynamic instead of falling into the trap of trying to include too many of the series' side characters. There is simply not enough time to include the entire beloved cast.
Redeem Sakura With Faster Character Development
Despite the fact that Sakura's character is often mocked online for her lack of relevance to the overarching plot, she's ranked incredibly high on several worldwide Naruto popularity polls. The movie has the chance to make the young kunoichi a more relevant member of Team 7 by fast-tracking Sakura's journey to becoming one of her village's best medical ninjas, a process the character didn’t effectively start until after the Shippuden time skip.
Sakura is a valuable member of Naruto's cast, and the movie has the chance to redeem her character by focusing on her growth faster than the manga did. Her character’s journey would be the perfect vehicle for explaining chakra control and having her begin to develop her iconic super strength until it can flourish in an exciting third-act reveal. Introducing Tsunade and Jairya in the first film may run the risk of overstuffing the plot, but planting the seeds of Sakura’s monstrous development earlier holds the potential for her to become the formidable female protagonist she’s always deserved to be.
The Movie Must Not Ignore Naruto's Central Themes
Even though the movie was first announced in 2015, there have been no details regarding what part of Naruto's story it hopes to adapt. The story’s controversial use of children in warfare would be extremely difficult to film and market unless it ages up its cast. While the first arcs effectively build on the dynamics between the young main characters, it's after the story's time-skip that the series begins to significantly dive into its themes revolving around empathy and how it can be used to break humanity's cycle of hatred that's led to endless wars.
Successful franchises like The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner have been prime examples of how to adapt stories centered around young adults tackling complex societal issues. I personally believe that the Naruto story has more potential than either of those stories. However, the first movie’s script must find a balance by using aspects of the earliest arcs in order to effectively build on the overarching story's most important character dynamics. But by aging up the actors, the movie can explore the more mature overarching themes and events that author Masashi Kishimoto begins to grasp later in the overarching plot.
A Director Who Can Capture Hearts and Ninja-Fast Action
Besides the importance of nailing the tone and themes of the beloved series, one of Naruto's most iconic features that must be present in the movie is the incredible battles. Ninjas in Naruto's world are capable of amazing feats in martial arts and of utilizing elemental attacks of all shapes and sizes. Many of the franchise's best battles find ways to combine those aspects to craft clever misdirects and satisfying displays of overwhelming strategies and power.
The first Naruto movie should shy away from including too much of the larger-scale attacks seen prominently in the final arcs. Like the manga, the live-action films should gradually build the scale of their battles. By overusing techniques capable of destroying mountains or trapping a person's mind in endless loops of torture, it runs the risk of dampening the impact and tension that come along with specific introductions or battles against overwhelming opponents. This might mean that Naruto’s iconic rasengan technique may need to be withheld until at least a second film.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton has proven more than capable of crafting exciting and easy-to-follow battles with his previous work. Those skills should translate exceptionally well in capturing the type of action that Masashi Kishimoto’s ninja demonstrate in the series. The author’s glowing endorsement of the director's ability to shoot both action and drama is another great sign that the Naruto movie has the potential to not only be the best live-action anime adaptation yet, but also to be a masterpiece that can introduce millions of additional people to the inspirational story of the shunned orphan who changed the world.
