Watership Down

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.

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.

The 'camera' takes a conventionally objective viewpoint, perpetually rolling over rolling countryside, which effectively robs the plot of all its terror and tension.

The movie is the antithesis of the modern standard, plodding and patient, unbothered by flashy bright images or relentless comical interludes.

Although this is an animated film featuring cute rabbits as the main characters, this is far from a children's movie, and considering the violence and horror to be found in this film, it is rather surprising that the MPAA passed it with a PG rating.

The film's careful balance of humanizing the rabbits while also recognizing the realities of their inherent nature (which is more territorial and combative than cute and cuddly) gives its conflict a particularly sharp edge

The animation style veers between poetic and prosaic.

A rather faithful adaptation of [Richard] Adams' book, as well as a milestone work of independent animation.

It's a work deeply enamored with its source material, and determined to do right by it, even if it means frightening kids, baffling parents, and embracing whatever style works.

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

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.

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