Checked out the contemporary Naruto, found that it stacks well against the vintage one. I hit a rather sedate episode though.

In some sequences, it's noticeable that animators save on line drawing and compensate with fluid movements. Aroduc highlighted this issue (alongside comically deformed hands) in his review of K-ON 01 as something typical of A-1. Indeed it was impossible not to see in Birdy remake. But it's not a new trend, I think. I definitely saw it before. The news is, the style is getting suspiciously uniform. In Shippuuden, they do not only cartoonize the design with minimal outlines, but also change the anatomy to look like that of K-ON. Sakura's legs above are a far cry from Temari's old-style sculpted beauty.

UPDATE 2009/04/14: I was somewhat encouraged by what I saw and restarted from the beginning. After 4 episodes, it's still a base shonen anime.

Sakura is even lovelier than before, and I know that astonishing long-haired Hinata is ahead, but otherwise the show is not where it was. Or maybe I am not where I was.