Afraid to stay in his warren after having a horrific vision, an outspoken rabbit convinces his friends to join him on a journey to a new home, an undertaking that proves dangerous, in this animated movie from Martin Rosen. A few years later, Rosen would go on to direct 'The Plague Dogs', an even more nightmarish animation that makes 'Watership Down' seem like a stroll in the park, but this earlier effort has a lot of interest on its own terms. A particularly striking aspect of the film is the beautiful watercolour backdrop animation that collides harshly with the very graphic foreground imagery. And with lots of violent attacks and copious blood (especially during the haunting vision), this is certainly not a film for little kids. The whole movie is quite unsettling -- in the best possible way -- and borderline frightening as the rabbits venture into the unknown where everything seems stacked against them - something that causes them to contemplate briefly whether they did the right thing to leave their warren. The film lacks the deeply fleshed out animal characters of 'The Plague Dogs' with most of the rabbit characters feeling interchangeable, but as mentioned, this is a fairly effective film if one avoids comparing and contrasting. Certainly, it is hard to think of another movie, animated or otherwise, that captures so acutely the uncertainty of leaving one's home.
Review of Watership Down
