Poll Position: Watership Down (1978)

This week for Easter we had a selection of movies with bunnies and whatnot for you to pick from, and in the end Watership Down won out over the martial arts movie Chocolate. I've always heard about this movie, or at least I've heard the title plenty of times. I didn't even have to look up "movies with rabbits" to know this one had to be on the list. However, even after hearing of it so many times, I didn't really know what it was about. A common theme with the movies I watch to be sure. What I did know, however, was that it was about talking rabbits and I was in for quite a lot of violence. Hop along with me after the jump, and we'll see how the Easter Bunny treated me.


Watership Down starts us off with a warren of rabbits with one very special individual. This rabbit is called Fiver, and he has the unique ability to see visions of the future. They're vague and not very clear, but what they often warn him of oncoming danger. This time the visions are of the entire field flooding with blood and the shadows of trees turn into cracks in the Earth. He manages to convince his elder brother Hazel and with his help they convince a small band of rabbits to leave the warren forever to find a new home far away. In their quest they must face a dangerous world filled with human traps and other wild animals out to kill them.

Fiver worries while Hazel does whatever Hazel does

I found it difficult to keep up with which rabbits where which as a number of them look quite similar, and the animation style isn't always that precise as to make it easy to tell who is who when they're all running. I count at least 10 main characters in the film, and sometimes they're also joined by a number of nameless rabbits. A few are extremely different and thus stand out. However, a few of them, Hazel being one, look quite similar to the rest making it quite annoying and difficult to follow the story. There are a few times when a rabbit gets hurt or dies and I honestly couldn't have told you at that moment which bunny it was.

Watch out! It's General Woundwort!

That said, the draw to this movie was probably the harsh and down to Earth story (I was going to say 'realistic', but then I remembered the bunnies talk). There are a number of scenes where rabbits die, and sometimes in a quite graphic and bloody way. Personally I didn't find it all that pleasant or entertaining. It was just too strange to see rabbits clawing bloodily at each other and ripping tufts of fur out. Also the fact that there seemed to be a German bunny ruled warren was extremely strange. Also, there was this incredibly annoying seagull character that for some inexplicable reason had a very thick accent that just didn't work for me.

Even though I've heard this movie mentioned so many times, I'm really not sure why it is. Perhaps it's just the movie showing it's age, but the animation really didn't hold up as I'd wish it had. The story was just kinda bland, and not many of the characters really stood out or made me care if any of them lived or died. It's unfortunate that I couldn't get more out of Watership Down. I'm not even positively sure what the title means for certain. I'd say pass it if you have the choice, it just didn't do anything for me.