Watership Down (Animated) (Special Edition) (DVD)

...one of my childhood favourites, Watership Down knowing that I’d be able to have a good old cry – plus I’ve been watching a lot of rabbits out of the train window on my journey to work! I had no intention of writing a review when we watched, but being left to my own devices for the day I thought I’d share with you one of the best children’s films of all time, plus it also gives me a chance to watch the extras which I haven’t seen before.

...that?!

When Watership Down came out legend has it (think my brother told me) that the signs outside the Butcher’s said “You’ve read the book, you’ve seen the film, now eat the cast” – while I quite like a bit of rabbit (especially cooked on an open fire), hubby’s not a fan so we won’t be eating the cast today. Since the film was made in 1978 (out in cinemas in 1979), this is three years before I came into the world – I remember watching ... more

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Intro

It’s not been a great week, so when hubby suggested I choose a DVD to watch I went for one of my childhood favourites, Watership Down knowing that I’d be able to have a good old cry – plus I’ve been watching a lot of rabbits out of the train window on my journey to work! I had no intention of writing a review when we watched, but being left to my own devices for the day I thought I’d share with you one of the best children’s films of all time, plus it also gives me a chance to watch the extras which I haven’t seen before.

Me and Watership Down

Despite the fact that this film has a U(niversal) rating, and claims to contain “Mild threat and violence”, it is actually quite scary for small children as I know from personal experience. But on some levels it’s actually more scary as an adult with the themes (death, fighting within the species – and not to mention the seagull!), but that could just be me. Incidentally my DVD shows that it has a classification of 12 in Ireland – perhaps one of our Irish members would care to enlighten me on that?!

When Watership Down came out legend has it (think my brother told me) that the signs outside the Butcher’s said “You’ve read the book, you’ve seen the film, now eat the cast” – while I quite like a bit of rabbit (especially cooked on an open fire), hubby’s not a fan so we won’t be eating the cast today. Since the film was made in 1978 (out in cinemas in 1979), this is three years before I came into the world – I remember watching our gradually more worn out video tape (taped from the TV) of the film.

This film I think really is what is known as a timeless classic (it says this on the back of the DVD but I actually agree). The issues affecting the rabbit back in 1978 are still very much prevalent today, and will be for as long as there are rabbits.

The Book

The book “Watership Down” was written by Richard Adams in 1972. I read the book myself back in 1992/1993 for a Year 7 book project (I recall drawing a lovely picture of a rabbit on the front), I remember that I painstakingly typed up the book project (back in the days it took 10 times as long for me to type as it did to write) on my brother’s Commodore 64 and it blew up in the process – that was the end of that. But more to the point (sorry, I feel this will be a lengthy review) I remember that at the age of 11 I didn’t really think much of the book, I recall that it was pretty long and there was a lot of description (which I think it portrayed so much better by the animation of the film). I have no desire really to read it again (even now 17 years later I would find it much more easy going I’m sure), and I can’t comment on discrepancies between the film and the book (although I’ve read that there are only minor changes) as it would take at least 2 hours to find my old book project in the loft – anyway, for those who want to know more then visit - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down - you can find everything you need to know there!

Onto the Film

The film was directed by Martin Rosen. The first part of the film I always found a bit strange as a child – the animation is very different from the rest of it. – very simple with bold but basic colours. This really is the foundation for the story – how rabbits came to be – could be compared to the human equivalent of Genesis in the Bible. Lord Frith created animals equal, however due to the rabbits breeding at such a fast rate, Frith warned the prince rabbit El-ahrairah to sort it out. When this didn’t happen Lord Frith gave all animals a gift – making many of them predators of the rabbits. El-ahrairah is trying to dig his way out, so Frith ends up blessing his bottom – the rabbit is blessed with the gift of speed. I really love the narrative here (it’s repeated at the end – and has me in tears) – “All the world will be your enemy, Prince of a Thousand enemies. And when they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you; digger, listener, runner.”

The we move to the main film - the first things I’m struck with is the background music, and the stunning animation, which is really just beautiful – much of it is like looking at a watercolour painting, and the whole film (well, except for the fighting scenes) is just a pleasure to watch. Some have said that it’s dated, but personally I think it’s still as lovely now.

We begin in a field, the warren at Sandleford – Hazel (voice – John Hurt) and his little brother Fiver (voice – Richard Briers) are generally doing what rabbits do, eating grass. Fiver is slightly loopy and is petrified about something, and knows that they must leave (he sees that the field is covered in blood). Hazel knows that Fiver’s visions have been correct in the past, so they go to see the Chief rabbit (chief of the Owsla – which seems a bit like the rabbit police). Of course the chief rabbit dismissed them. Hazel and Fiver get together a small group of rabbits – Dandelion, Silver, Blackberry (the relatively clever one), Pipkin (the little one) and Violet (the only female – we will mention her no more), and joined by the fantastic Bigwig (my favourite – voice – Michael Graham Cox)) they leave the warren for an adventurous journey to find a place of safety.

Many hurdles are faced along the way – getting passed the Owsla, rats in a barn, a rather scary warren with the most camp rabbit you’ll ever see, man traps, dealing with Hrududus (cars), and a dog loose in the wood – ‘there’s a dog loose in the wood, there’s a dog loose in the wood’ and a fox. Then there’s the farm (and rabbits in hutches), a cat called “Cat”, a dog (probably called “Dog”) and farmers with guns.

The rabbits find a place on a hill where you can see the whole world (I love this scene) – Watership Down, and temporarily they are safe. One of my favourite parts of the film is where the rabbits make friends with a seagull who has a damaged wing, Kehaar (from Big Water – Beeeeeeeg Vatter - voice from Zero Mostel), who helps them on their quest to find some female rabbits - basically they couldn’t succeed without him. I love the music which accompanies Kehaar and when he flies.

Needing mates, Kehaar tells them of the Efrafa warren, where there are rabbits (including the lovely Hyzenthlay) who want to escape. But is it possible to get past the evil (and scary) General Woundwort…..and will Bigwig manage to infiltrate the warren and lead the rabbits to safety?

I don’t want to give away too much of the story for those who haven’t seen the film, so wont tell any more of it!

More Thoughts on the Film

You’ll hopefully have already got the impression that I love this film. The animation is stunning, and soundtrack fantastic – the theme tune has such a feel good factor, then there’s also the drama and suspense music. Along with the general Watership Down and Kehaar music, we also have the classic song “Bright Eyes” written by Mike Batt and sung by Art Garfunkel which has me in tears since it accompanies the Black Rabbit (death) coming for the rabbits – when he calls, you have to follow.

The characters are distinctive with individual personalities. We have Hazel (or Hazel-rah, chief) who is courageous, and fiercely loyal to his younger brother Fiver. We have BigWig who is a strong fighter and brave, we have little Pipkin who gets tired easily, and the jittery nervous Fiver with his sixth sense. These nice rabbits are contrasted with the evil Woundwort with his scary eyes.

There are some funny moments, such as when Kehaar says “Piss off!” – is this really suitable for a U – I don’t know, but I don’t think I even noticed it as a child! It’s hard not to chuckle sometimes at the rabbits – they can be quite simple at times.
I have read various things from people saying that the film gave them nightmares as a kid. Well, quite honestly it’s up to parents to decide if a film is suitable for their children to watch. However, although I found it scary, I don’t think that watching this scarred me for life, and in reality a lot of the themes in the film are lessons which need to be learned anyway – friendship, loyalty, bravery, and the fact that there are nasty people (or rabbits) out that, that hopefully good triumphs over evil in the end, but also that death comes to us all.

DVD Extras

Watership Down – a conversation with the Filmmakers (made in 2005) – interview with Michael Rosen (Writer/Director) and Terry Rawlings (Editor and Sound Editor) – they talk about the setting for the story, and how it is all based on real places – Nuthanger Farm in Hampshire. Basically they talk about how the film was made! This lasts for 17 minutes and is worth a watch.

Defining a Style – a 12 minute film about the animation.

Storyboard Comparisons – nor really sure what the point of these is.

Other

The film lasts just 88 minutes (seemed much longer as a kid).

Watership Down was also made into TV series in 1999-2001, which I haven’t seen, but maybe will get round to at some point. Although I think the film’s perfect as it is, perhaps the fact that the TV series was 39 episodes would make it a bit different!

This can currently be bought on Amazon for £3.98 – it is well worth that amount, so give it a go!
 

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