Psycho's Movie Reviews #23: Watership Down (1978)

Watership Down is a 1978 British animated adventure-drama film, written, produced and directed by Martin Rosen and based on the 1972 novel by Richard Adams. It was financed by a consortium of British financial institutions and was distributed by Cinema International Corporation in the United Kingdom. Released on 19 October 1978, the film was an immediate success and it became the sixth-most popular film of 1979 at the UK box office.

It features the voices of John Hurt, Richard Briers, Harry Andrews, Simon Cadell, Nigel Hawthorne and Roy Kinnear, among others, and was the last film work of Zero Mostel, as the voice of Kehaar the gull. The musical score was by Angela Morley and Malcolm Williamson. Art Garfunkel's hit song "Bright Eyes" was written by songwriter Mike Batt.

Plot:

In Lapine language mythology, the world was created by the god Frith. All animals were grass eaters, living harmoniously. The rabbits multiplied, and their appetite led to a food shortage. Frith ordered the rabbit prince, El-Ahrairah, to control his people, but was scoffed at. In retaliation, Frith gave special gifts to every animal, making some into predators to hunt the rabbits. Satisfied that El-Ahrairah has learned his lesson, Frith gives rabbits the gifts of speed and cunning.

In the present, in a warren near Sandleford, a rabbit seer named Fiver has an apocalyptic vision and takes his older brother Hazel to beg the chief for evacuation. The chief dismisses them, and orders Captain Holly, the head of the warren's Owsla police force, to stop those trying to leave. Fiver and Hazel along with other rabbits named Bigwig, Blackberry, Pipkin, Dandelion, Silver, and Violet manage to escape, passing a sign (meaningless to them) confirming that a residential development is coming.

They journey through the woods, avoiding several dangerous situations; until Violet - the group's only doe - is killed by a hawk. The others eventually meet a rabbit named Cowslip, who invites them to his warren, where a farmer leaves Cowslip's group ample vegetables. They are grateful, but Fiver leaves when he senses something unsettling in the atmosphere. Bigwig follows, berating Fiver for causing tension when a snare catches Bigwig. Bigwig's friends manage to free him, and Fiver learns that the farmer is protecting and feeding Cowslip's warren so that he can snare rabbits for his own meals. The group returns to its journey.

The rabbits discover Nuthanger Farm, which contains a hutch of domesticated does. Before they can free the females, the farm cat and dog chase them away. Later, they are found by Captain Holly, who recounts the destruction of Sandleford by humans as well as vicious rabbits called the "Efrafans". Fiver finally finds the hill he envisioned, Watership Down, where the group settles in with Hazel as their new chief.

They soon befriend an injured black-headed seagull named Kehaar, who flies out in search of does. That night, the rabbits return to Nuthanger Farm to free the does, but an attempt to free them fails which ends with Hazel getting shot. Fiver follows a vision of the mythical Black Rabbit to his injured brother. Kehaar returns and, while pecking out buckshot from Hazel's leg with his beak, reports of the many doe at the large Efrafa warren. Captain Holly describes it as a dangerous totalitarian state, but Hazel feels they must go there. Bigwig infiltrates the warren and is made an Owsla officer by their cruel chief, General Woundwort. Bigwig recruits several potential escapees to his cause, including Blackavar and Hyzenthlay. With Kehaar's help, the escapees find a boat to float down the river. That night, Kehaar leaves for his homeland with the gratitude of the warren.

Efrafan trackers eventually find Watership Down. Woundwort rejects Hazel's offer of peace and demands that all deserters must be turned over or Watership Down will be wiped out. While the Watership rabbits barricade their warren, Fiver slips into a trance, in which he envisions a dog running loose in the woods. His mumblings inspire Hazel to try and release the farm dog and lead it to the Efrafans. When they arrive at the farm, Hazel unties the dog and releases it while Blackberry, Dandelion and Hyzenthlay use themselves as bait to make the animal follow them. Meanwhile, when the Efrafans break through the warren's defences, Woundwort goes in alone; Blackavar attacks him but is easily killed. Bigwig ambushes Woundwort and they fight to a standstill. When the dog arrives and starts attacking the Efrafans, Woundwort abandons Bigwig and fearlessly attacks the dog. However, no trace of Woundwort is ever found, which leaves his fate a mystery.

Several years later, an elderly Hazel is visited by a strange ghostly rabbit, who invites him to join his own Owsla, assuring him of Watership Down's perpetual safety. Reassured, Hazel accepts and dies peacefully. His spirit follows the visitor through the woodland and trees towards the Sun, which metamorphoses into Frith, and the afterlife, as Frith's parting advice to El-Ahrairah is heard once more.

Production:

Film rights were purchased by producer Martin Rosen. He did this with the assistance of a merchant banker, Jake Eberts, who enjoyed the experience so much it launched Eberts's career in the film industry. The option for the film rights was £50,000.

Rosen estimated the budget at $2.4 million. Eberts raised $1 million from the Pearson company and clients of the merchant bank Lazard.

Production of the film began in 1975 by a new animation studio, formed in London by Rosen. It was originally going to be directed by John Hubley, who left after disagreements with the film's producer Martin Rosen. His work can still be found in the film, most notably in the "fable" scene. He was replaced by Rosen who thereby made his directorial debut.

After the genesis story, which was rendered in a narrated simple cartoon fashion, the animation style changes to a detailed, naturalistic one. There are concessions to render the animals anthropomorphic only to suggest that they have human voices and minds, some facial expressions for emotion, and paw gestures. The animation backgrounds are watercolors. Only one of the predators, the farm cat Tab, is given a few lines, the rest remaining mute.

The backgrounds and locations, especially Efrafa and the nearby railway, are based on the diagrams and maps in Richard Adams's original novel. Most of the locations in the movie either exist or were based on real spots in Hampshire and surrounding areas.

Rating and Poster Controversies:

Although the film is fairly faithful to the novel, several changes were made to the storyline, mainly to decrease overly detailed complexity and improve the pace and flow of the plot. In addition, the order in which some events occur is re-arranged. Unlike many animated features, the film faithfully emulated the dark and violent sophistication of the book. As a result, many reviewers took to warning parents that children might find the content disturbing. When the film was first submitted to the British Board of Film Classification, the BBFC passed the film with a 'U' certificate (suitable for all ages, similar to the MPAA's "G" rating), deciding that "whilst the film may move children emotionally during the film's duration, it could not seriously trouble them once the spell of the story is broken and a 'U' certificate was therefore quite appropriate". This choice has been quite controversial though, and in 2012, the BBFC admitted that it had "received complaints about the suitability of Watership Down at 'U' almost every year since its classification". In the U.S. the film was rated PG due to the violent scenes.

Some marketers in the U.S. also worried that the main promotional poster appeared too dark and might scare some children. The poster is actually showing Bigwig in a snare (his distinctive fur is clearly visible), yet the image on the poster does not appear in the film, which contains a far bloodier depiction of the scene.

Music:

The musical score was by Angela Morley and Malcolm Williamson, Morley replacing Williamson after the composer had fallen behind and only composed the prelude and main title theme in sketch form. A list of the musical cues for the film can be found on the composer's website, which also gives information about the different composers working on the project.

The soundtrack includes Art Garfunkel's British No. 1 hit, "Bright Eyes", which was written by the British singer and songwriter Mike Batt. He also wrote other songs for the film which were not used. The composer recorded three songs with vocals by Garfunkel, but only "Bright Eyes" made it to the film. The song "When You're Losing Your Way in the Rain" has a very similar feeling and arrangement, and was recorded by the former Zombies vocalist Colin Blunstone in 1979. Garfunkel's version was heard years later, on the Watership Down TV series soundtrack released in 2000. The song, like many others which appeared on the TV soundtrack, was never used in the show.

Release/Box Office:

Watership Down was first released to the UK on 19 October 1978, and was later released in the United States on 1 November 1978, for the latter, the movie was distributed by AVCO Embassy Pictures.

The film has received mostly positive reviews from critics: it has an approval rating of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 34 reviews, with an average rating of 7.20/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Aimed at adults perhaps more than children, this is a respectful, beautifully animated adaptation of Richard Adams' beloved book." The film has also received a weighted average score of 64 out of 100 from Metacritic based on 9 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews".

In a retrospective review in 2018, Ed Power of The Independent characterized the film as a "classic," that also "arguably traumatised an entire generation."

The film was nominated for Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1979. In 2004, the magazine Total Film named Watership Down the 47th-greatest British film of all time and it was also ranked 15th in the "100 Greatest Tearjerkers".

When Watership Down was released, the film was very successful at the box office. According to financier Jake Eberts, the investors who put up the $50,000 development finance "got their money back with interest, plus an additional $450,000, making a total of ten times their investment". Other investors in the film reportedly received a return of 5,000% on their investment.

My Review:

Watership Down? Watership... Down? OOOOOHHHHHH you mean that charming, adorable family picture about the cute little Bunnies finding a new home while being hunted down by dogs who are shown ripping them to shreds and other Rabbits that fight and murder each other, while the film itself is filled with creepy and disturbing imagery? Oh yeah I know that film.... HOW IS THIS FILM A U RATING?!?!?!

Then again, a lot of the films from around this time were quite terrifying, weren't they? The Neverending Story has a drowning horse, which gives up through depression. Labrynth has headless fire monsters whilst the lead character gives up her whining baby brother to the goblins. Cartoons of the day were dominated by Don Bluth movies. The Disney films were even more raw- see the Black Cauldron. Even the start of the Frog chorus on VHS had that weird psycadelic cartoon with naked sprites. Watership Down is a U. Frozen is a PG, whilst gory horror swearathons are now a 15 (which would have easily been 18 in the 1980s). Today film classifications are more vanilla (12 or 15) and after Shrek every CGI animated film is a PG. Agreed U is a bit much for Watership Down but it has some truly wonderful animation and essentially was no more violent than the real Jungle Book.

The Plague Dogs (by the same author and then an animated film), now that film is truly horrifying and still haunts my dreams. That should never be shown to children, ever!

Last time I watched it I was... I can't remember how old I was because it was that long ago since I last watched it - I know I was around 7 or 8, something like that. However, recently I decided/dared to rewatch it again to see if it is still pure nightmare fuel like everyone recalled it being {I can't remember whether I liked it or not}. And I have to say that I actually enjoyed it {SURPRISINGLY}.

This film has beautiful animation, but every parent should NOTE that just because this film in the UK is rated U or in USA is rated PG doesn't mean it's suitable for young kids. In my opinion it should have been rated what Ireland rated the film which is 12 because this film has a LOT of animated gore, a scene of rabbits going insane underground and at one scene the bird tells the rabbits to "PISS OFF!" Although not given the appropriate rating, the film is amazing, it has amazing animation, good voice acting and an interesting story, and has great morals and messages in it.

My favourite thing about this film is the song 'Bright Eyes' by Art Garfunkel {It's personal; when I was younger my Mother would sing this song to lull me to sleep, or if I was afraid of something - preferably when I was scared awake due to nightmares - she'd sing it to calm me. Even to this day when my A.A.A (Autism, Asperger's and Anxiety) bring me down - or when I wake up from plaguing, reoccurring nightmares - I sing or hum this song still. It's my comfort song :)}. It's got this peaceful, melancholic, relaxing tone - with beautiful orchestrated instrumental. THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE TO THIS MOVIE!!!