The 'camera' takes a conventionally objective viewpoint, perpetually rolling over rolling countryside, which effectively robs the plot of all its terror and tension.
Watership Down (1978)
Tomatometer
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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
Reviews for Watership Down
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.
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.
...lovely to look at and fun to listen to, but dull and lethargic in spots, too, and sometimes brutally savage.
For a kid, it's great. Kids can't normally smell extremely episodic, fractured narratives.
Expertly and realistically animated, this version of the popular novel didn't seem to have an audience.
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.
Cuts so deep on so many ethereal levels that you can flip to nearly any page in the history book and see a parallel.
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.
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