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| Images courtesy of BFI |
“All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.”
People tend to romanticize nature and wax poetic about its beauty and grandeur. In reality, nature is equal parts exquisiteness and ugliness—and both are represented in the gorgeous and brutal animated film Watership Down (1978). It seems that animated movies used to be gloomier back then, and they often explored more mature themes (even though they were still made with children in mind). Modern-day cartoons have taken a definite shift towards the more family-friendly route but have become more generic in the transition for the most part.
Watership Down is based on the novel of the same name by Richard Adams. He is well-known for writing animal-based stories and even had another one of his books, Plague Dogs, animated as well. Adams’ tales have always had tragedy running through them, and they usually involve cute animals, making them harder to bear. Watership Down concerns the exploits of a warren of rabbits who may be in danger of losing their home. Fiver, a rabbit with visions, foresees an apocalyptic event and tries to get the rabbits to leave and go to a safer place. The interactions between the rabbits are complex and nuanced—much more than someone would expect from a film about cartoon bunnies.
The film has two styles: whimsical and realistic. Most of the opening portion of the film uses the more adorable look and then shifts to a naturalistic look for the remainder of the movie. The rabbits are anthropomorphic in the sense that they speak, but they are wild animals in their actions. They attack each other viciously, leaving bleeding gashes and mangled bodies out in the wilderness to die. It’s pretty harrowing and gruesome, and I remember being unsettled while watching it as a child. It is interesting to note, however, that I never thought it was inappropriate, and it opened my mind to the idea and reality of death. Perhaps it’s not the place for an animated movie to impart such notions, but it definitely left a strong impact. Nature is nothing but life and death, and there is beauty in both of those concepts.
This film’s animation is elegant and subdued in that wispy, British way (reminiscent of The Wind in the Willows, another English animal-orientated film that came later). Its color scheme is rich with earthy browns, rich greens, and the occasional splash of blood red. All of the rabbits and other animals move convincingly, and if it weren’t for the fact that they are talking, it could almost be mistaken for a nature documentary. Watercolor-inspired backgrounds are painted in broad strokes with beautiful sunsets, fluffy clouds, and insects buzzing around lazily on the flowers.
A dark fairytale is being told here, with the suffering and joyfulness shown in equal measure. Art Garfunkel provides the surprisingly emotional song Bright Eyes, which coincides with a particularly beautiful scene in the film. Sad orchestral music rounds out the rest of the score, but Bright Eyes is the most memorable, becoming a number-one hit on British music charts.
As this film is quite violent, it did get some balking from parents concerned about it scaring their children. This hasn’t softened with age. I found the themes in the film to be even more subversive when I watched it as an adult. There are references to fascism, genocide, fear of change, nihilism, caste systems, and ultimately death. It’s very heavy underneath the children’s storybook façade but also meaningful. Parents may want to watch it with their children to be able to discuss it with them, but opening dialogue in such a way is not a bad thing. Ultimately, it is a must-see movie for people who love animation--young and old alike.
Extras:
There are two full-length commentaries on this release, and both of them cover different ground. The archival one from 2005 featuring Chris Gore and Martin Rosen is more of a behind-the-scenes look at the film with topics such as how Rosen discovered the book and his interactions with Richard Adams, securing funding, converting the novel to a screenplay, and the process of casting the voice actors. Conversely, the commentary by animation experts Catherine Lester and Sam Summers is more of a thematic film analysis. They dive into the symbolism, the differences between the novel and the movie, the design of the rabbits, how rabbits are portrayed in popular culture, and some facts about Watership Down, which is a real place. The booklet is jam-packed with various essays, my favorites being Tim Coleman's examination of the film through the lens of The Five Stages of Grief and Catherine Lester's deep dive into the effect that films like Watership Down can have on children.
4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Newly recorded audio commentary by film and animation experts Catherine Lester and Sam Summers
Defining a Style (2005): short featurette about the film’s aesthetic
A Conversation with the Filmmakers (2005, 17 mins): Archive featurette in which director Martin Rosen and editor Terry Rawlings discuss the production history of the film
Storyboard comparison (2005, 15 mins): a look at four sequences from the film
Super 8 version of the film (20 mins)
Humberstone Super 8 footage (3 mins): Footage shot by Arthur Humberstone, one of the senior animators on Watership Down
Designing Watership Down (2024, 5 mins): a gallery containing some of the materials related to Watership Down courtesy of The Arthur Humberstone Animation Archive
Trailers, teasers & TV Spots
Once We Were Four (1942, 9 mins): a bunny quartet face an onslaught of badgers, bombs and birds of prey in this black comedy masquerading as a nature film, directed by Mary Field
Rabbits or Profits? (1969, 15 mins): public information film providing a potted history of rabbits in the UK
Bolly in A Space Adventure (1968, 5 mins): a short Halas & Batchelor animation about the adventures of Bolly and his friends on imaginary planets, featuring animation by Tony Guy, animation director on Watership Down
Make Believe (1948, 17 mins): Anson Dyer tells 'The Tale of Ronnie Rabbit' in this documentary
showing the various stages of making a cartoon bunny
Newly created optional English descriptive subtitles
Newly created audio description track for the blind and visually impaired
Double-sided poster featuring the original UK quad and the 2024 rerelease artwork
A set of four postcards featuring iconic scenes from the film
Perfect-bound book featuring writing by Jez Stewart, Catherine Lester, Nigel and Clive Humberstone, Angela Morley, Charlie Brigden, Lillian Crawford, Vic Pratt, Tony Dykes and Michael Brooke
--Michelle Kisner