Watership Down (1978)

Brilliant and touching

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I was quite young when I watched this movie. The scenes terrified me so much and I had nightmares for weeks. Everytime I come to watch this movie it terrifies me still and I have to turn it off.

I haven't read the novel, so I'm not able to tell how true to the source material this adaption is, but from what we are given it proves that animated features can be much more than entertainment for kids. It is mature, slow, deep and beautifully crafted. I especially admire the realistic design of the animals while still making each one seem unique. Unlike Martin Rosen's later The Plague Dogs which lacked that final touch Watership down manages to give the rabbits just enough facial expressions to make them fully engaging.The music is another highlight of the movie expirience. It creates an almost constant feel of danger and threat, but balances it with a lighter tone and sound when nature is shown from its most beautiful side. The main theme is incredibly haunting and is still stuck in my head. Storywise we are offered a quest for safety and a place to carry on the warren's name with all the distress and conflict nature is capable of. The threat of humans destroying the earth is well handled with brilliant visuals of rabbits suffering, but is not excessive. And the rivalry between warrens is perhaps the most intense conflict in the movie. The General of the Efrafans scared me with his design which seemed towering even if he wasn't much bigger than the regular rabbit. And the ending offers a perfect pay-off after all the hard work and suffering our maun character, Hazel, had been through.

A community of rabbits are forced to leave the warren that they live in. The rabbits encounter various obstacles in the cruel and unfair outside world during their search for a new peaceful home.The key remarkable triumph of writer/director Martin Rosen's exceptional adaptation of Richard Adams' bestselling novel is the vivid and striking way it presents a fascinating and thoroughly realized universe for the rabbit protagonists full of both stunning beauty and great danger that comes complete with its own unique spiritual beliefs and a clearly delineated social pecking order. Moreover, this film also serves as an intelligent and provocative meditation on the abuse of power, the desire for freedom, and the inevitability of death. The naturalistic and carefully crafted hand-drawn animation provides a lovely pastoral look. The superb voice acting from a top-drawer cast of British thespians rates as another substantial asset, with especially stand-out contributions from John Hurt as the gentle, yet noble Hazel, Richard Briers as nervous clairvoyant Fiver, Michael Graham Cox as rugged tumbler Bigwig, Roy Kinnear as cowardly runt Pipkin, Denholm Elliott as the sniveling Cowslip, and Harry Andrews as vicious tyrant General Woundwort. Zero Mostel supplies amusing comic relief as noisy, but helpful seagull Kehaar. The startling moments of bloody violence pack a jolting punch. Angela Morley's harmonic score and the touching ballad "Bright Eyes" sung by Art Garfunkel hit the tuneful spot. A highly impressive achievement.

Richard Adams' beloved novel about a ragtag group of rabbits who escape from their doomed warren to find a new home was given the animated treatment and was a massive success round the world. With memorable characters, an adventurous narrative, a beautiful score and breathtaking visuals all combine to a wonderful animation masterpiece.The film boasts an illustrious voice cast of England's top talents particularly in the late Sir John Hurt as Hazel, the troupe's self-appointed leader, the late Richard Briers as Hazel's psychic brother, Fiver, Harry Andrews as the evil General Woundwort and in a final performance that leaves an impact is legendary comedian Zero Mostel as the sour, snarky and helpful gull Kehaar. John Hurt's Hazel is clever, soft=-spoken, at times naive but a strong leader who earns his status as the group's Chief (the head of a rabbit warren in the novel's universe). Brier's Fiver is timid, cautious, smart (thanks in small part to his psychic abilities) and loyal to his brother and the group. Andrews' Woundwort is a vicious and terrifying villain who will rip any insubordinate member of his Efrafa warren to shreds if they defy him. And Zero Mostel as Kehaar is funny as his character spouts lines with an accent that sounds like vaguely Germanic, but laced with hilarity.The narrative structure is faithful to the source material as it follows the characters' struggles to find their home to their battle with the Efrafans. The story never loses its resonance even after nearly 40 years as the impact is still felt and the story is continuously shared by all generations.