Review of Watership Down (1978) by Wayne C — 15 Oct 2011

Ah, Watership Down. One of my favourite books ever written, gets made into a classical animated movie that will last forever. Watership Down follows the adventures of Hazel, Fiver and Bigwig, after Fiver having a vision of their warren being destroyed, Hazel and Bigwig convince other rabbits to come with them.

On their Journey, they must avoid Dogs, Cats, Foxes and even other rabbits that may mean them harm, especially a certain warren of Rabbits that strike a very curious resemblance to Nazi-Germany.

The animation is simple, yet realistic. The backgrounds are beautifully water-painted, that it looks as though it has been lifted straight from the book, better than my imagination could ever think up. Fans of the book will wonder how the Religious overtones, the Lapine language, the poetry and the stories of El-Ahrairah are presented, trust me it's all as I imagined. The poetry that made the book so great is only in one seen of the movie in Cowslip's warren, but again they manage to capture it brilliantly.

The voice acting is top notch, all the rabbits personalities from the book are brought to life amazingly to the movie, especially John Hurt who voices the main character Hazel, and brings out the great determination, honorability and gentleness that made Hazel so compelling in the book.

Watership Down is a classic, no doubt of it, but maybe young children should stay away. The movie depicts rabbits getting, choked, gassed, shot at and even get their throats ripped open and very bloody depictions, which doesn't mean it's bad, it just means that their can be an adult audience for animation.

Whilst watching Watership Down, I was sure I was watching a classic, It'll last forever, just like Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, this isn't just an animated movie, it's a world crafted from pure imagination. Now if you excuse me, I going to get some "Silflay" (Only fans of the book and movie, will know what I mean by that).