Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow is the first theatrical film in the Naruto franchise. The film was released to Japanese theaters on August 21, 2004. In the United States, the film had a one-day theatrical showing on June 6, 2007. A DVD was released on September 4, 2007; a Deluxe Edition of the DVD was released on November 13, 2007.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, along with their sensei, Kakashi, are sent on a mission to accompany famous actress Yukie Fujikaze, as she heads for the Land of Snow to shoot her new movie. While on their travels, it comes out that Yukie is actually someone important from the Land of Snow, and that someone is after a crystal necklace that she has. Can Naruto and the rest of Team 7 protect Yukie from the danger that she is in?

Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow is a good film; however, it was definitely written in a way where you already had to be familiar with the Naruto anime series in order to fully understand what was going on. No time was used for any kind of exposition to explain some of the things that are common knowledge from the series.

When the film aired in Japanese theaters, it was preceded by a 10-minute short called "Konoha Annual Sports Festival." The short is definitely more light-hearted in nature than the actual film itself, and it includes some "potty humor." The short, which is included on the DVD release of the film, is about the various ninja teams competing for a vacation. Unfortunately for Team 7, Naruto finds he needs to use the bathroom; however, every attempt he makes is foiled. Can Naruto ever make it to the bathroom, and will his need to go affect his team's chances to win?

I had the opportunity to see the film as part of the three-disc deluxe edition pressing. The menu on the first disc allows you to watch the film, set up your audio and subtitle preferences, select which scene from the film that you'd like to see, and special features. For the audio options, there is English 5.1, English Stereo, and Japanese Stereo. For subtitles, you can choose whether to have them on or off.

In the Special Features menu, you have six options. You can watch the short, you can see the English trailers for the film, you can see trailers for four Viz Media releases, you can see ads for Shonen Jump manga, a screen promoting Toonami Jetstream, and the trailers for several Naruto videogames.

The second disc in the set includes seven special features. "Behind the Scenes of U.S. Voice Recording" is a 20-minute documentary which includes interviews with the Production Manager, ADR directors, and some of the voice actors; you also get to see the voice actors dubbing some of their dialogue for the film.

The second feature is a 10-minute feature which includes interviews with the Japanese voices for Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi; this feature is subtitled. Next is a five-minute feature that includes messages from the ADR Directors, the U.S. voice cast, the Japanese voice cast, and a text message from Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of the Naruto manga.

Next is the seven-minute feature, "Inside the Animation Studio." It is narrated by the U.S. voice actor for Kakashi, and it shows the animation process that the film underwent in Japan from the character sketches to the final rendered product. Then, an almost eight-minute feature about Naruto at the 2007 New York Comicon is next; it includes interviews with several people involved with the dubbing of the series, as well as some footage from the actual con.

This is followed by the original Japanese movie trailers. This feature runs for about five minutes and includes 10 trailers; unfortunately, it is not subtitled. The final extra is the original Japanese credits. It's basically the last five-and-a-half minutes of the film, and does not include subtitles.

The third disc is a CD soundtrack for Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow. There are 20 instrumental tracks, and the disc is 29 minutes in length.

If you're a Naruto fan, then this film needs to be in your DVD collection. However, I would recommend getting the deluxe edition DVD if you can.

In order to write this review, I checked out a copy of this DVD set through the King County Library System. I later purchased my own copy of the deluxe edition.

Disc 1	Disc 2	CD
Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow Konoha Annual Sports Festival Bonus Features	Bonus Features	Legend Of Leaf The Hidden Leaf Village Grand Sports Festival Go Go Sports Festival! It's Gonna Blow! Adventures of Princess Gale - "Sorrow" - "Despair" - "Hope" Enter Princess Gale?! I'm Gonna Protect You!! Yukie Fujikaze Foreboding of a Blizzard Koyuki Kazahana Time To Work Actress Yukie Fujikaze Raid On The Defensive Evasion After The Atrocity Hex Crystal I Will Never Give Up! Wake Up! Demon Fox! Happy End