hyped garbage

Absolutely the worst movie.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

I watched this out of curiousity after hearing all the controversy about it being shown on channel five during the day. I forced myself to watch is all the way through even though it was boring, so boring I struggled to follow it and ended up having to read the exact plot online. The voice actors sound like boring old men. Everything about it feels so 70s, and not good 70s but the miserable 70s feeling of hopelessness, boredom, dated animation, a feeling that all TV being aimed at boring old men. The only positive thing about this is the bittersweet music video of bright eyes. But it'll make you cry.

There is an unfortunate aspect that must come with the visual medium, and this is that the rabbit's point of view switches to a more omnipotent one. Richard Adams' classic novel had a way of characterising the rabbit's perspective within their own worldview and terms. His descriptions of how they saw strange and alien threats such as bulldozers, cars and roads are brilliant, offering just enough hint of form to the human reader for us to understand and comprehend how terrifying it must be to have a metal creature rip up the earth itself. In particular there is a wonderful sequence missing, entailing how Holly recounts a roaring train as some sort of godly presence sent by El-ahrairah himself to save the rabbits from the Efrafan patrol. We don't get this in a movie, of course. A car is just a car, a road just a road, and when Hazel is shot, we already know what must be done long before Kehaar chimes in. Adams created an entire lore from the rabbits' worldview and some remnants of it remain, thankfully. Hubley's lasting presence is felt mostly in the opening sequence, a bouncy, cartoony style creation story tinged with cultural importance and ethnocentrism. It's charming and fluffy, as if it was being told by a mother rabbit to its kittens right before bedtime, and it also provides the valuable aspect of juxtaposition to the film's real world and its harsher environment and animation style. This has always been a point of contention when discussing the film, of how it smuggles in its graphic violence amidst the initial presentation and premise. A animated story about fluffy bunnies is perfectly appropriate, reasoned parents of unassuming children. But this is precisely why Adams' story is so valuable. It strips away those innocent notions of animals and the wild. It doesn't sanitise what it must be like to survive beyond the comfort of the rabbit hutch.Is it a good adaption? Well, yes and no. Some of the images it manages to capture defy what any written description could ever achieve. The animation style has the backgrounds painted in lush, delicate watercolours, and then the rabbits drawn with hard-edged lines. This allows for the animators to easily tinge the colour palette; purple and yellow for sunset, or drenching the fields with blood-red in Fiver's visions. The uneasiness surrounding the Cowslip's warren is illustrated in colour instead - their warren's tunnels are coloured unnaturally, in bright and lurid oranges and pinks to signify the inhabitant's departure from the natural wilderness rabbit life. Holly's recount has a thick air of terror imbued within, and the animation swirls like a hallucinatory nightmare as he re-experiences the invasion and destruction of man. The soundtrack also lends an extra element to the film. When the group's only doe, Violet, is snatched up in the blink of an eye by an eagle, the score screeches in anguish, almost alive. And who could ever forget Art Garfunkel's Bright Eyes in the moving sequence where a vision of the Black Rabbit leads Fiver to his injured brother. Unfortunately, these seem like cosmetic improvements that distract from what has been taken from the heart of the story. Animation is expected to be a lengthy and costly process, so the basic plot points have been retained here, but a more than cursory glance reveals that much is missing. The film is a compressed, condensed version of the events on Watership Down. It skips the leadership and decision making process that gradually sees a meek rabbit evolve into Hazel-Rah. Case in point: Hazel doesn't make the decision for the whole group to feed and nurse Kehaar for no immediate benefit, he just decides to help them for no reason. There is no process of trial and error that sees Hazel learn from his mistakes, or see his initial decisions benefit them in the long run (like befriended the mouse). A brilliant line from the novel is turned into something far less meaningful - it is supposed to signify Bigwig's shift in demeanour over time to accept Hazel's authority, but here it's just used to emphasise Woundwort's short-sightedness by repeated highlighting how much he wants to rip 'Chief Rabbit' Bigwig into shreds. And Woundwort himself is turned into some tame bedtime story legend, instead of a lasting remnant of the strange powers of brainwashing and devotion. Where is Dandelion's speed and storytelling? Blackberry's intelligence? Hazel was wise enough to respect and utilise those around him, but here the secondary characters are pushed back. Hazel is the real hero, but we don't feel the protectiveness and love he has for his warren, so his death isn't nearly as moving as it should have been.

I placed this film in my top 10 because of my pure love for this film and my pure love for cavy's and rabbits. However, one may think that is narrow minded to rate a film based purely on external matters, but this film is legitimately good in my views. Some people may find it too slow and I agree that some parts tend to drag, but it is countered by its strong attack on war and social themes. The metaphors may be too much for kids to understand, but this film really isn't to be experienced by kids. Yes, it's nice on the outside, but the gritty inside is what adults will love about this film. Overall, Watership Down provides a deeply depressing and emotional ride which will leave a tear in your eyes and a beautiful re-imagining of rabbits and animals in the process.

I watched about 1/2 of this movie and it horrified me for about four months. I just was scared for life watching this awful movie. Although yes the movie has a great concept to it, but you can get your opinion across without seeing a field turn to blood or watching as a dog horrifically rips a rabbits throat open or watch as a rabbit gets choked to death and has blood spilling from his neck and mouth. If you have young children I do not recommend watching it. As a child I scared me. So if you don't want your child worrying about being buried alive. Do not get fooled buy the rating "G" I would probably rate it "PG-13". Beware.