I thought this episode was pretty... bad. The reasons include:

1) Lazy animators, who couldn't even bother animating/drawing Kakashi and crew jumping on branches while Kakashi talked to Chiyo. Seriously, they were just flying the whole time.
2) Naruto tapping into the Kyuubi to gain speed. I don't recall this ever happening in the manga -- although I could be wrong. If it was in the manga, shame on Kishimoto.
3) Filler character dialogue. I don't know who this Matsuri or whatever is, but I'm assuming she came in on a filler episode that I didn't watch. The talking between her and Temari was uber boring, but luckily short.
4) Gaara's death. So void of emotion; it reminded me of Rukia coming back after the Soul Society arc in Bleach. Although his last breath staring at himself, surrounded in white, was pretty cool, I don't think they really captured the emotion they should've.

Maybe I've just been spoiled by the manga. I dunno.