Watership Down Review

With Disney Studios in decline in the late 1970s, producer-director Martin Rosen sought to fill a gap in the animation market with Watership Down, an adaptation of Richard Adams' best-selling bunny book. Given its graphic violence and religious imagery, it was an ambitious project that didn't lend itself easily to kid-friendly fare. A bomb seemed primed to explode, especially when Rosen's first-choice as director dropped out and he decided to oversee the animation himself.

Leaving aside that Art Garfunkel song, this film is actually far better than you might expect. It's a fine combination of adventure story and spiritual epic featuring voice performances by many of Britain's finest. It tells the story of Fiver (Briers), a psychic rabbit (go with it) who envisions the destruction of Sandleford Warren. Unable to convince the older rabbits of the imminent danger, Fiver and his brother Hazel (Hurt) lead a band of young bunnies on a daring cross-country trip. Eventually the rabbits make a new home for themselves in the tranquillity of Watership Down, but no sooner does their adventure seem to be over than Fiver, Hazel and co find themselves facing a new threat in the shape of the malevolent General Woundwart (Andrews).