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Movies / On DVD / Watership Down
Watership Down

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Watership Down (1978)

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Reviews Counted:27

Fresh:22

Rotten:5

Average Rating:7/10

Consensus: Aimed at adults perhaps more than children, this is a respectful, beautifully animated adaptation of Richard Adams' beloved book.

Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: An animated adaptation of Richard Adams' best-selling book about a group of rabbits desperately searching for a new home after the demolition of their warren. The bunnies endure a danger-filled... An animated adaptation of Richard Adams' best-selling book about a group of rabbits desperately searching for a new home after the demolition of their warren. The bunnies endure a danger-filled journey in which they contend with hunters, vicious dogs, and even other rabbits who are out to stop them. As the heroes travel, they are befriended by a wisecracking seagull named Kehaar. Will Hazel and the other rabbits find a place to call home, where they can live in peace? [More]

Starring: Ralph Richardson, John Hurt, Zero Mostel, Michael Graham-Cox

Starring: Ralph Richardson, John Hurt, Zero Mostel, Michael Graham-Cox, Richard Briers, Harry Andrews

Director: Martin Rosen

Director: Martin Rosen

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Watership Down

  • T-Meter Critics
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1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
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The 'camera' takes a conventionally objective viewpoint, perpetually rolling over rolling countryside, which effectively robs the plot of all its terror and tension.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment 1 Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A beautifully realised animation, Watership Down ultimately works because it doesn't dilute the violence and drama of Adams' book with a rose-tinted lens.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
09/03/08
Richard Luck
Richard Luck
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A brief spark of imagination survives in a prologue sequence, designed by the great John Hubley before he was fired from the film. The rest is blandness.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 4 Comments
09/03/08
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader

...lovely to look at and fun to listen to, but dull and lethargic in spots, too, and sometimes brutally savage.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment 1 Comment
10/03/08
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

For a kid, it's great. Kids can't normally smell extremely episodic, fractured narratives.

comment 1 Comment
07/31/03
Widgett Walls
Widgett Walls
Needcoffee.com

Expertly and realistically animated, this version of the popular novel didn't seem to have an audience.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
09/03/08
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Great animation.

comment Comment
08/22/02
Bob Bloom
Bob Bloom
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

No review available.

comment Comment
09/05/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

No review available.

comment Comment
04/06/06
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

No review available.

comment Comment
07/26/02
David Poland
David Poland
Hot Button

No review available.

comment Comment
06/11/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

A respectful screen version of Richard Adams' bestselling novel.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
01/24/04
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Don't listen to anybody who writes it off as a 'cartoon about bunnies.' Stunning beauty, smart scripting, a splendid score ... this is a serious film for serious moviegoers.

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment Comment
01/15/05
Jeffrey Overstreet
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer

No review available.

comment Comment
10/04/04
Jeffrey Westhoff
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

Multiplying isn't all the rabbits are good at...

comment Comment
06/30/03
Kevin A. Ranson
Kevin A. Ranson
MovieCrypt.com

Classic non-children's animated film.

comment Comment
10/07/05
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

Cuts so deep on so many ethereal levels that you can flip to nearly any page in the history book and see a parallel.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
07/17/05
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

No review available.

comment Comment
07/26/02
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A rare movie that keeps kids on the edge of their chairs without inducing in their parents an overwhelming desire to escape theirs for a smoke in the lobby.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
09/04/08
Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A dark and transfixing fable that happens to star cartoon bunnies.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
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