But isn't this the chance for the movie to give her that development. Honestly, I'm kind of Jelly of the anime fans sometime because they actually have other characters get screen time outside of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, thus this probably seems a lot less jarring to them.
But if the movie can give development to Hinata, then why not?
At the risk of repeating arguments: Kishimoto should have developed Hinata in the manga rather than neglect her character and to leave her love unrequited until the epilogue.
I agree that she didn't have that much screen time but we all know she was trying her hardest to prove herself
and anytime she does have a serious moment her background story helps make it more interesting like when she fought against Neji.. compared to Sakura's stupid rivalry with Ino (which to me was the worst thing in the Chunin Exams)
That's beside the point. Hinata's potential was squandered for the sake of making her pairing fodder.
Ino and Sakura's rivalry was actually one of the better aspects of the exam because it developed Sakura and made us understand her motivations to beat Ino. She didn't want to remain in her shadow any longer, and she wanted to stand on her own to feet instead of relying on Ino, the girl who once protected her from bullies.
Sakura screaming "Sasuke-kuuun" (something you haters always use against Hinata even though she says kun to every guy) every time she sees him and breaks down to being a groupie isn't something she grew out of... heck it morphed into something bigger
if you see all the times she is by herself... fine she tries and does something (usually fails)
but when Sasuke comes she goes gaga for him
SHE HAS ALWAYS LOVED SASUKE this didn't digress at all in the war Arc and there are a ton of scenes to prove it
Sakura was not even remotely as bad as Hinata. Her world didn't revolve around Sasuke, she didn't idolise him, he wasn't her motivation in life, and she was able to actually talk to him, and at times give him a piece of her mind, e.g. when she called him a coward during the second stage of the Chūnin Exams, or when she stood up for Naruto during their reunion in Iron Country.
The manga showed us that she had guts and drive, and that she wanted to become stronger to be acknowledged, and she was inspired by Ino, Sasuke, Naruto and Tsunade to do so, and she did.
Then 699 happened, and her behaviour around Sasuke was no different than in chapter 3 or other earlier chapters of the story.
I see never knew Naruto was with her when she trained every day to get recognized by her clan
Hinata used Naruto as a crutch in the sense that she needed him to want to do better. Her entire world revolved around Naruto and he was her motivation for everything.
Now compare that to Sakura, who wanted to improve because wanted acknowledgement (from more than just one person), because she was inspired by others, because she had her pride as a kunoichi and Tsunade's successor.
))))
