Watership Down started out as a story that the author Richard Adams would tell his young daughters in the car during road trips. He was a veteran of World War 2 and it was his way of conveying to them what he had seen. They loved it so much that they encouraged him to write it down. The novel is amazing! The movie was good, but the book was better.
All of the locations in Watership down are real places in England with the addition of the artwork being in the style of Turner and a standout soundtrack makes Watership Down a genuine classic. It is much more than an entertaining story.
Yes, the farm, railway, the road, even the pylons are geographically accurate. The warren at the beginning is situated in western Berkshire, just west of the former RAF base of Greenham Common, whereas Watership Down is across the border in norther Hampshire. The only difference is that Watership Down isn't as steep as depicted in the movie. It also doesn't have the single tree on top.
Hazel isn't the smartest or the strongest rabbit, but he has atributes that make him a very good leader. Woundwort only understands leadership by strength and force, so when Bigwig says "My chief's told me to defend this run!" Woundwart is terrified that he'll have to face a rabbet who's even stronger than Bigwig.
The most badass line in that movie imho. It never occurred to Woundwort that Hazel was the Chief Rabbatt. As for Hazel he was quite smart to come up with a plan to stop Woundwort once and for all. What made Hazel a great leader was his wiliingness to listen the advice of others. The author made the ending ambigious to the fate of General Woundwort and left it up to the reader to decide what happened to the general.
@@garyroberts1560 The dog apparently survived with pretty serious wounds but not life threatening. I think the dog either killed Woundwort or the General fled for his life. But as the author stated ambigiously about Woundwort's fate as his body was never found. It is possible the dog killed and ate him whatever was left was washed away in the river. I can't see Woundwort fleeing from any opponent even an opponent as big as that dog. So yeah imo the dog probably killed him.
It's incredible! The final scene affects pretty much everyone like that. I sometimes tear up just thinking about it because it was that well done. A seriously good adaptation of the ending of the book - arguably, even better because of it's sheer emotional impact!
The reason why they didn't know the housing development was coming even with the sign there is because rabbits can't read human languages, not even English. It's also why they have different names for things like badgers and cars.
I remember seeing this on cable TV back in '79 when I was just eight or nine. I thought it was the coolest thing I had seen outside of Star Wars - so much so that this was one of the first "real" novels that I read when I was a little older.
I could pretty much tell the same story. I was probably 8 and I wasn’t traumatized at all…I thought it was incredible. By next year I was reading the novel. It took me months!
When Bigwig tells Woundwort that his chief told him to defend the run, it shocks Woundwort, and intimidates him. He assumes that the most dangerous fighter is the chief, and so assumes there must be a better fighter than Bigwig. It never even occurs to him that Hazel would be the leader.
ghehe same :) but loved it, just finished the graphic novel which is just as great. Would love to see you react to it, but kind of expected you saw it already :D
@@morcellemorcelle618 In 2022 it was rerated to PG by the British Board of Film Classification after 44 years. It was always PG in the US. Plague Dogs is the Richard Adams novel that got the PG-13, that one never had a U rating though
I was crying buckets as a kid, but I loved it all the same especially because it felt so real, no sugar-coating, gave you an understanding of life and death. And it gives you a brutally honest perspective of the human influence to the environment - The Animals of Farthing Wood - an animated series has a very similar message (a lot of tears as well) only with a bunch of different wild animals forming an unusual pack trying to find a new home. The stories I remember most from when I was a child are the one with a deep and believable emotional impact usually with high stakes where loosing and even death are a possibility. Because when all the good ones always win, every problem is successfully solved and everyone always lives happily every-after, - then there are no stakes no danger and it does not prepare you for the reality at all. The original fairy-tales were very dark, but their purpose was to prepare children in a safe and fictional place for the realities of life, only over time they got more and more "children-friendly" until anything impactful nearly disappeared - Disney's Cinderella or Ariel are extremely diluted versions (the real ending of The Little Mermaid can be considered bitter-sweet at best).
I think that this film hits harder when you're an adult than when you're a child. The film addresses lots of useful topics for kids at a time where they haven't absorbed too much of the real world.
God I love that Movie and adore that book. The stories about the Prince of Rabbits, the whole world building, just chef's kiss and you'll tear through it when reading.
Absolutely LOVED this reaction!! I was the youngst in my family and watched this when I was VERY young! XD It definitely terrified me at parts, but I do also think it is where my love of animals (especially rabbits) came from! So glad you said that it is beautiful at the end! The film often gets remarked as 'dark' and even 'depression'. Though there are sad parts, the story as a whole is all about life and death, done in a truly beautiful way! Great stuff (and yes, the soundtrack is next level!!)
I feel the story of watership down is one of the 'realest' stories ever made; it makes no effort to gloss over or glorify the (often violent) life of a rabbit. A life in nature, as part of it, has as many beautiful parts as heartbreaking parts. Always captivated me as a kid, been meaning to bring a DVD over to my parents and make them watch this with me again; I hardly think they even remember traumatizing me with this movie as a child lmao.
People always say how traumatising this movie is, but I see a film with beautiful artwork, an original storyline and a fabulous soundtrack. Everytime I watch watership down it takes me back to my childhood, a time when life was more simple and there was less to worry about. This movie is no less traumatic than your average Tom cruise/ Denzel Washington film. Just because it’s animated makes it no different.
'It's got some cute bunnies' Oh no, you poor sweet girl. That's what they make you think. The rating has changed for this movie after like 44 years. Granted by this point I think it's a little too late XD, especially given that they aren't printing new DVD's or whatever so anyone seeing this in like some old movie shop will see cute bunnies and U and think 'oh my kids will love this.
You should read the book! It goes into wonderful details and tells more Prince Rabbit stories. As for the pen, Cowslips Warren in the novel shows that even if you did it out of love, human interference in their lives can greatly disrupt the rabbits psyche.
We were show this at school at like 6 or 7. We were emotionally scarred or life haha but in the best way. A whole generation bounded over the trauma haha
This was one of my favourite movies as a kid. You should try the book, it's amazing. I've just finished my 3rd read through of it and it's still my favourite
I read it for the first time nearly forty years ago, and make sure to reread it every four or five years. I see something new in it every time. It's amazing.
Watership down was based of a book by the same name by Richard Adams. That's one of my favorite books of all time. Fiver is based of Cassandra in greek mythology. Cassandra was cursed by Apollo to always tell the truth, but to never be belived, and i caused the downfall if her people. And you can see that the rabbits only starts to thrive after they learn to trust Fiver. It's an amazing story
The voice over cast is basically a whos who of the best actors in Britain when this film was made. Probably the most obvious to anyone younger today would be John Hurt who plays Hazel. John Hurt was Ollivander in the Harry Potter films, crew member Kane in Alien and high chancellor Sutler in V for Vendetta to name just a few of his many, many film roles.
Yes, watching as a child was terrifying. A lot of parents made the assumption that rabbits meant cute and safe, but nope. I eventually forced myself to watch it all the way through so I wasn't quite as scared.
Oh yeah no one sees rabbits the same after watching this movie. I even saw a documentary where they named them Hazel and Clover as a callback This is a cliche but the book is better. Trully written like an epic classic journey. Speaking of 33:00 The seagul's name is Keehar, he's my favourite and you would ADORE him in the book. Every single adaptation gets him wrong! He is easily one of the most colorful and fun characters in the story, but gets rewritten as ridiculous for timing movie reasons... see, Bigwig admires him and becomes great friends with him and he gets teased when Keehar leaves 'cos he's visibly sad when he leaves. Keehar promises he will come back next year to scare the little rabbits, its a whole thing. 35:54 this movie makes it seem as if the whole farm ordeal was useless. In the book it isn't: it was a great risk with a small reward at a high price kinda situation, they do get two females to the warren, wich is not much but is enough to fix their situation and save the entire warren. Later, when they decide to save the rabbits from Efrafa (the tiranical place) they do this not beocuse they need females, but becouse it is the right thing to do, despite the great risk. And the females do play a big role even if its not ideal the way it s portrayed 48:44 the battle at the bridge was also supposed to be so epic. They never quite make it justice, in this movie at least they kept Bigwig insulting the General when cornered, but the whole thing with a big white bird coming out of nowhere to fight for them was terryfing to them, it demoraliced the bad guys and made them more easy to give up later in the story, but I guess it is hard to translate
It teaches you the harshness of nature and it also inspires one to do better, be more compassionate and that a little humility goes a long way. Especially the worldbuilding is topnotch, with its own language and the tales of The Prince of Rabbits.
The British animation industry was just starting to pick up steam when Martin Rosen started adapting the Richard Adams book. U certificates were the default for animation because censors assumed it would follow the Disney formula. Parents in Britain challenged the BBFC's ruling on Watership Down for decades, and finally got it up to a PG in 2022. When the crew started, their plan for the majority of the film is what you see in the opening: a very simple style designed by their original director John Hubley (who came from the States and was known for producing Gerald McBoing-Boing). But Hubley had health problems and left the project, dying a year before the film was released. Martin Rosen's experience was just in live-action but as the writer/producer he agreed to take on more responsibility, teaching himself animation as they went and choosing a more realistic style. He brought in Phil Duncan (also American, whose experience dated back to 1942's Bambi) as the main animator. He also brought in others from live-action to bring an outside-the-box approach: producer Jake Eberts (future bankroller of This Is Spinal Tap and Dances With Wolves), editor Terry Rawlings (right before he worked on Ridley Scott's Alien) and most of the music is by Angela Morley (she was working on this at the same time she took orchestration gigs under John Williams, i.e. arranging pieces for the Christopher Reeve version of Superman). The cast is stacked with veterans of West End theatre. Hazel is voiced by John Hurt, later known for Ollivander in the Harry Potter series. Fiver is voiced by Richard Briers, star of a BBC sitcom called The Good Life. Kehaar is voiced by Zero Mostel, the original Max Bialystock of Mel Brooks's The Producers. Woundwort is voiced by Harry Andrews, who got huge acclaim as a no-nonsense prison guard in The Hill. I always point to this as one of the best films of 1978; I give it 2nd place just under Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven.
Your reactions are pretty much spot on. You get it. Many people just don't. The book is, as is usual "better" and I'd advise anyone to read it. The film rushes a lot of stuff, the book has the space to "breath" and you can take it all in and process it at your own pace. I loved the book as a child. I was given it for my twelth birthday and went from "I'll never read a book about talking rabbits" to "I love this and always will" in hours - while reading it on a train journey. I saw the film some four years later in November 1978 and , if anything. felt odd that what had previously felt like my private world suddenly became everyone's. That feeling got even worse when, months later in 1979 when Bright Eyes went to number 1 for six weeks. But no, the film wasn't ever for children. A lot of people. apparently more sop now than then, assumed it was, and that lead to calls for to be "inapprpriate". In my view though, that's more a parenting problem than a film problem.
Author Richard Adams based a lot of the characters on soldiers he met during WWII - Kehaar is based on a Norwegian airman who got over to the UK, and Hazel, the Threarah, Cowslip and Woundwort demonstrate different models of leadership. The book is easily in my top ten reads ever, possibly in my top five. I thoroughly recommend you try it.
Congratulations for watching it Suzy! This was a big part of my childhood, it is a terrifying yet beautiful tale. There was actually an animated tv series that’s a lot more tame for children, and they did a 4 episode remake on Netflix in 2018 with James McAvoy, Ben Kingsley and John Boyega. 🐇
I first watched this when I was about 4 or 5, and while I absolutely loved it, I'm pretty sure it scarred me for life. The scene with the rabbits trapped underground is right up there with The Bunyip from Dot and the Kangaroo for my childhood nightmare fuel.
Are you Aussie? Because, I think it adds another element to the psychological callus-building of the story, when this hardcore anthropomorphising is about a cute little introduced species, that causes absolute havoc in our environment. That snare might have been set by a beleaguered farmer. Or, some camper hoping for rabbit stew. And it caught Bigwig…not a bilby 😏 Gen X are tough. Aussie Gen X are terrifying😆
Big wig is my favorite Character, it always makes me wonder if he Dies At the End....whatever happen to Him...that Courage keep me on Edge throughout the whole Film ...
This was the video tape my mum would chuck on when I was 2 to 6 years old. I guess like the wiggles nowadays. I remember the start of watership down so well. burnt on my brain..... around the same age, luckily I saw plague dogs only once or more. I guess we rented that one...
The society that author Richard Adams created for rabbits is incredible. Society, mythology, language, customs, poetry...it's an amazing book. I first saw this movie when I was about four years old (1979 or so) and my family still uses some of the rabbits' words and expressions, to this day. The only part of the film that scared me was when Fiver had his first vision, because I thought he said the field was covered in LAVA, which I greatly feared at that age.
Parents tried to get this movie cancelled because they thought it was meant for children when it came out. The world has always been soft. Don't kid yourself.
Wow, this is a surprise. I actually thought of asking you to watch this for your Christmas season, but you've beaten me to the punch. As for the rating... yeah, what people thought acceptable for young kids in the 1970s was *very* different to now, I guess because there were more still growing up on small farms or seeing animals hanging on hooks in butchers' shops. Death and blood, especially of animals, was just more commonplace, and thus less censor-worthy. The voice cast includes several well-known English theatre and TV actors, like John Hurt and Richard Briers, and the song "Bright Eyes", despite Art Garfunkel's own disdain for it, was a UK number 1 chart single for six weeks. Even outwith the film, it still puts a lump in my throat to hear it. ❤
In the original novel, the rabbits had their own language "Lapine" - "Elil" aka "The Thousand Enemies" or simply "The Thousand" - any animal that prays on rabbits "Lendri" = badger, "Frith" = sun, "Inle" = moon, "Hrududu" = human car/vehicle "Hraka" = droppings There were quite a few more, but those are as much as I can remember off the top of my head 🙂
i cannot watch this movie again, so im not going to watch the reaction but i hope you're okay after it. it its one of the hardest things i've ever had to watch in my life. i REFUSE to watch it again.
I loved this one, I read the book and when I saw this it scared me, especially the general, two other old animated movies you might like are Secret of Nimh, and The Black Cauldron.
You really liked this.😀 So , I'm going to recommend the other 4 Animated movies of my childhood. You might like them just as much or more. The first has two movies. "The Fantastic Adventures of Unico" and "Unico and the island of magic." Next is "The Last Unicorn." This movie might be my favorite animated movie of all time. The last two you have probably heard of because they were much more mainstream. "The Secret of Nimh" and "The Black Cauldron."
This is one of my favourite movie as a child growing up. as I got older i cried like a kid. I'm proud of you Suzy for watching this. If you have a chance try watch Jason and the argonauts the 1963 version. Up to you but its a good classic fil
I'm not really a fan of the Netflix series, because it took to many liberties with the story, and lacked to much understanding of both the characters and important major plot points, however, I have to give them credit for the confrontation between Woundwort, Bigwig and Kehaar. Than was done alot better in the Netflix series
The movie that scarred a generation. I saw this for the first time when I was 12. Yes, 12. You are brave to watch this and you should smack the person that gave you that DVD.
My dad saw this movie at the theater a long time ago. He saw the title and thought it was about submarines. It's definitely not. A movie about naval combat would have been less scarring for my poor dad.
the British Board of Film Classification has admitted that giving it a U rating was 'a mistake'. It remains one of the most complained about movies in UK history.
If it’s not too much trouble Suzy, I’d love to see your reaction to The Last Unicorn if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s one of my favorite movies and it was aunt’s favorite.
Saw this as a kid. Woundwort still scares me lol. I recommend reacting to the old cartoon/tv series The Animals of Farthing Wood. Similar to this. I grew up watching it and The Land Before Time movies.
One of my favorite books of all time. The movie had to cut so much from it. You really ought to give it a try as much as you liked it. Fiver did survive. His mate was Hyzenthlay, the doe rescued from Woundwort's warren who could also gain visions of the future. So long as Watership Down had one of their offspring, they'd forever be safe.
In the quiet of the night aboard the USS Enterprise, Commander Riker and Captain Picard found themselves in the captain's ready room, enjoying a rare moment of relaxation. The stars outside the window formed a mesmerizing backdrop, a reminder of the vastness of space they explored together. "Jean-Luc, do you ever tire of this endless journey?" Riker asked, his voice soft, almost reflective. Picard looked up from his book, a slight smile playing on his lips. "There are moments, Will, when the solitude of command can weigh heavily. But then, I think of the crew, of the friendships we've forged, and it all seems worthwhile." Riker nodded, understanding the sentiment all too well. "We've been through so much together. It's those bonds that keep us going, I think." The captain set his book aside and leaned back in his chair. "Indeed. It's not just the exploration of the unknown that drives us, but the connections we make along the way." There was a comfortable silence between them, one that spoke of years of mutual respect and camaraderie. Riker walked over to the replicator and ordered two glasses of Saurian brandy, handing one to Picard. "To friendship," Riker toasted, raising his glass. "To friendship," Picard echoed, clinking his glass against Riker's.
There is a series that is a new version made by Netflix with more modern animation, where the relationships between the characters are better developed
Been a while since you made this, but good reaction. :) By the way, though the movie follows the book very well, there's TONS of stuff that got left out. Well worth reading.
This is based in Britain (England), rabbit isn't on any owl species menu, by the time baby rabbits leave the burrow they are to big, definitely to heavy to be lifted by any British owl species like Barn owl, Tawny owl, Little owl, Short-eared owl and Long-eared owl, all typically praying on Mice, Voles, Small birds, amphibians and arthropods. There are definitely owl species that can prey on and lift rabbits in other countries.
@@-blackmamba6278 At the time period the movie was made there wasn't, however in recent years there has been some records of them here, it's not known if they are escaped "pets" or blown over from mainland Europe. There's currently no records of successful breeding, but there's some records of attempts, it's debated by some if they are native or not if they become established. IMO they technically are native as their are fossil records of them being in Britain from around 700,000 years, so they maybe making a comeback but they haven't been here for a long time.
Many of the best stories for kids aren't for kids, Call of the Wild gets pretty brutal, Old Yeller we all know how that ends. As for fairy tales, they're positively gruesome.
Watership Down started out as a story that the author Richard Adams would tell his young daughters in the car during road trips. He was a veteran of World War 2 and it was his way of conveying to them what he had seen. They loved it so much that they encouraged him to write it down. The novel is amazing! The movie was good, but the book was better.
Plague Dogs is another of his books, it's just as good and sad.
I agree, the book was better but the movie really does convey the violence of some of the chapters.
Telling his little girls road trip stories is a very cute backstory for this
Also Bigwig and Hazel were inspired in real captains Richards Adams meet in the war.
All of the locations in Watership down are real places in England with the addition of the artwork being in the style of Turner and a standout soundtrack makes Watership Down a genuine classic. It is much more than an entertaining story.
It's true Susie. There's a couple of videos on TH-cam of people visiting the locations. Iron road. The down itself. Etc
Yes, the farm, railway, the road, even the pylons are geographically accurate. The warren at the beginning is situated in western Berkshire, just west of the former RAF base of Greenham Common, whereas Watership Down is across the border in norther Hampshire. The only difference is that Watership Down isn't as steep as depicted in the movie. It also doesn't have the single tree on top.
Hazel isn't the smartest or the strongest rabbit, but he has atributes that make him a very good leader. Woundwort only understands leadership by strength and force, so when Bigwig says "My chief's told me to defend this run!" Woundwart is terrified that he'll have to face a rabbet who's even stronger than Bigwig.
The most badass line in that movie imho. It never occurred to Woundwort that Hazel was the Chief Rabbatt. As for Hazel he was quite smart to come up with a plan to stop Woundwort once and for all. What made Hazel a great leader was his wiliingness to listen the advice of others. The author made the ending ambigious to the fate of General Woundwort and left it up to the reader to decide what happened to the general.
@@oldgordo61 in Tales from Watership Down, there's section in one of chapters where it's confirmed that the dog did kill Woundwort.
@@garyroberts1560 The dog apparently survived with pretty serious wounds but not life threatening. I think the dog either killed Woundwort or the General fled for his life. But as the author stated ambigiously about Woundwort's fate as his body was never found. It is possible the dog killed and ate him whatever was left was washed away in the river. I can't see Woundwort fleeing from any opponent even an opponent as big as that dog. So yeah imo the dog probably killed him.
It's impossible not to cry listening to Bright Eyes
God that soundtrack. And that final scene. It still wrecks me after all these years.
It's incredible! The final scene affects pretty much everyone like that. I sometimes tear up just thinking about it because it was that well done. A seriously good adaptation of the ending of the book - arguably, even better because of it's sheer emotional impact!
One of the most melancholy, deep, evocative soundtracks of any fim I've seen. A hauntingly beautiful masterpiece by Morley and Williamson.
Me: "Congratulations! You survived "Watership Down"! Now let's watch "Plague Dogs"."
Everybody: "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
Then after that, we got "Felidae" on tap
no💀💀💀💀😭💗@@LOLMAN9538
The reason why they didn't know the housing development was coming even with the sign there is because rabbits can't read human languages, not even English. It's also why they have different names for things like badgers and cars.
I remember seeing this on cable TV back in '79 when I was just eight or nine. I thought it was the coolest thing I had seen outside of Star Wars - so much so that this was one of the first "real" novels that I read when I was a little older.
I could pretty much tell the same story. I was probably 8 and I wasn’t traumatized at all…I thought it was incredible. By next year I was reading the novel. It took me months!
When Bigwig tells Woundwort that his chief told him to defend the run, it shocks Woundwort, and intimidates him. He assumes that the most dangerous fighter is the chief, and so assumes there must be a better fighter than Bigwig. It never even occurs to him that Hazel would be the leader.
"It's a U! It can't be that bad.."
Me - 'Evil laughs in 80s child-ese'
XD
I'm pretty sure they recently changed it to pg13...
ghehe same :) but loved it, just finished the graphic novel which is just as great. Would love to see you react to it, but kind of expected you saw it already :D
..this is why we're so "normal" lol
@@dziunnl Hi dziunni! So sorry, I thought I replied to this! I looked up the graphic novel after reading your comment, and it looks AMAZING!!
@@morcellemorcelle618 In 2022 it was rerated to PG by the British Board of Film Classification after 44 years. It was always PG in the US. Plague Dogs is the Richard Adams novel that got the PG-13, that one never had a U rating though
I love how she cries at the end when Hazel dies.
Bright eyes, burning like fire
Bright eyes, how can you close and fail?
How can the light that burned so brightly
Suddenly burn so pale?
Bright eyes
We sang this in choir at primary school and my best friend cried because his pet bunny had just died. Sad times.
The scene that got to me,even to this day.
I was crying buckets as a kid, but I loved it all the same especially because it felt so real, no sugar-coating, gave you an understanding of life and death. And it gives you a brutally honest perspective of the human influence to the environment - The Animals of Farthing Wood - an animated series has a very similar message (a lot of tears as well) only with a bunch of different wild animals forming an unusual pack trying to find a new home.
The stories I remember most from when I was a child are the one with a deep and believable emotional impact usually with high stakes where loosing and even death are a possibility. Because when all the good ones always win, every problem is successfully solved and everyone always lives happily every-after, - then there are no stakes no danger and it does not prepare you for the reality at all.
The original fairy-tales were very dark, but their purpose was to prepare children in a safe and fictional place for the realities of life, only over time they got more and more "children-friendly" until anything impactful nearly disappeared - Disney's Cinderella or Ariel are extremely diluted versions (the real ending of The Little Mermaid can be considered bitter-sweet at best).
I think that this film hits harder when you're an adult than when you're a child. The film addresses lots of useful topics for kids at a time where they haven't absorbed too much of the real world.
God I love that Movie and adore that book.
The stories about the Prince of Rabbits, the whole world building, just chef's kiss and you'll tear through it when reading.
Watched it as a child but this is what us Gen X calls a children show
"Violet's gone" My sister almost quit at that point
Absolutely LOVED this reaction!! I was the youngst in my family and watched this when I was VERY young! XD It definitely terrified me at parts, but I do also think it is where my love of animals (especially rabbits) came from! So glad you said that it is beautiful at the end! The film often gets remarked as 'dark' and even 'depression'. Though there are sad parts, the story as a whole is all about life and death, done in a truly beautiful way! Great stuff (and yes, the soundtrack is next level!!)
I feel the story of watership down is one of the 'realest' stories ever made; it makes no effort to gloss over or glorify the (often violent) life of a rabbit. A life in nature, as part of it, has as many beautiful parts as heartbreaking parts. Always captivated me as a kid, been meaning to bring a DVD over to my parents and make them watch this with me again; I hardly think they even remember traumatizing me with this movie as a child lmao.
Well done, Suzy. That was a remarkable movie when I saw it at 16, decades ago, and you brought it all back.
People always say how traumatising this movie is, but I see a film with beautiful artwork, an original storyline and a fabulous soundtrack. Everytime I watch watership down it takes me back to my childhood, a time when life was more simple and there was less to worry about. This movie is no less traumatic than your average Tom cruise/ Denzel Washington film. Just because it’s animated makes it no different.
'It's got some cute bunnies'
Oh no, you poor sweet girl. That's what they make you think.
The rating has changed for this movie after like 44 years. Granted by this point I think it's a little too late XD, especially given that they aren't printing new DVD's or whatever so anyone seeing this in like some old movie shop will see cute bunnies and U and think 'oh my kids will love this.
You should read the book! It goes into wonderful details and tells more Prince Rabbit stories.
As for the pen, Cowslips Warren in the novel shows that even if you did it out of love, human interference in their lives can greatly disrupt the rabbits psyche.
We were show this at school at like 6 or 7. We were emotionally scarred or life haha but in the best way. A whole generation bounded over the trauma haha
Omg I can’t believe you watched this! I’ve requested it on tons of channels and no one’s ever seen it
This was one of my favourite movies as a kid. You should try the book, it's amazing. I've just finished my 3rd read through of it and it's still my favourite
I read it for the first time nearly forty years ago, and make sure to reread it every four or five years. I see something new in it every time. It's amazing.
Watership down was based of a book by the same name by Richard Adams.
That's one of my favorite books of all time.
Fiver is based of Cassandra in greek mythology.
Cassandra was cursed by Apollo to always tell the truth, but to never be belived, and i caused the downfall if her people.
And you can see that the rabbits only starts to thrive after they learn to trust Fiver.
It's an amazing story
The voice over cast is basically a whos who of the best actors in Britain when this film was made.
Probably the most obvious to anyone younger today would be John Hurt who plays Hazel.
John Hurt was Ollivander in the Harry Potter films, crew member Kane in Alien and high chancellor Sutler in V for Vendetta to name just a few of his many, many film roles.
He was also the Horned King from The Black Cauldron and Winston Smith from 1984 and Professor Broom from Hellboy.
He was also the War Doctor in Dr. Who.
Yes, watching as a child was terrifying. A lot of parents made the assumption that rabbits meant cute and safe, but nope. I eventually forced myself to watch it all the way through so I wasn't quite as scared.
Oh yeah no one sees rabbits the same after watching this movie. I even saw a documentary where they named them Hazel and Clover as a callback
This is a cliche but the book is better. Trully written like an epic classic journey. Speaking of 33:00 The seagul's name is Keehar, he's my favourite and you would ADORE him in the book. Every single adaptation gets him wrong!
He is easily one of the most colorful and fun characters in the story, but gets rewritten as ridiculous for timing movie reasons... see, Bigwig admires him and becomes great friends with him and he gets teased when Keehar leaves 'cos he's visibly sad when he leaves. Keehar promises he will come back next year to scare the little rabbits, its a whole thing.
35:54 this movie makes it seem as if the whole farm ordeal was useless. In the book it isn't: it was a great risk with a small reward at a high price kinda situation, they do get two females to the warren, wich is not much but is enough to fix their situation and save the entire warren.
Later, when they decide to save the rabbits from Efrafa (the tiranical place) they do this not beocuse they need females, but becouse it is the right thing to do, despite the great risk.
And the females do play a big role even if its not ideal the way it s portrayed
48:44 the battle at the bridge was also supposed to be so epic. They never quite make it justice, in this movie at least they kept Bigwig insulting the General when cornered, but the whole thing with a big white bird coming out of nowhere to fight for them was terryfing to them, it demoraliced the bad guys and made them more easy to give up later in the story, but I guess it is hard to translate
It teaches you the harshness of nature and it also inspires one to do better, be more compassionate and that a little humility goes a long way.
Especially the worldbuilding is topnotch, with its own language and the tales of The Prince of Rabbits.
Watership down is a real place,it’s in north Hampshire,also the farm in the story is a real place it’s called Nuthanger farm.
The British animation industry was just starting to pick up steam when Martin Rosen started adapting the Richard Adams book. U certificates were the default for animation because censors assumed it would follow the Disney formula. Parents in Britain challenged the BBFC's ruling on Watership Down for decades, and finally got it up to a PG in 2022.
When the crew started, their plan for the majority of the film is what you see in the opening: a very simple style designed by their original director John Hubley (who came from the States and was known for producing Gerald McBoing-Boing). But Hubley had health problems and left the project, dying a year before the film was released. Martin Rosen's experience was just in live-action but as the writer/producer he agreed to take on more responsibility, teaching himself animation as they went and choosing a more realistic style.
He brought in Phil Duncan (also American, whose experience dated back to 1942's Bambi) as the main animator. He also brought in others from live-action to bring an outside-the-box approach: producer Jake Eberts (future bankroller of This Is Spinal Tap and Dances With Wolves), editor Terry Rawlings (right before he worked on Ridley Scott's Alien) and most of the music is by Angela Morley (she was working on this at the same time she took orchestration gigs under John Williams, i.e. arranging pieces for the Christopher Reeve version of Superman).
The cast is stacked with veterans of West End theatre. Hazel is voiced by John Hurt, later known for Ollivander in the Harry Potter series. Fiver is voiced by Richard Briers, star of a BBC sitcom called The Good Life. Kehaar is voiced by Zero Mostel, the original Max Bialystock of Mel Brooks's The Producers. Woundwort is voiced by Harry Andrews, who got huge acclaim as a no-nonsense prison guard in The Hill.
I always point to this as one of the best films of 1978; I give it 2nd place just under Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven.
Your reactions are pretty much spot on. You get it. Many people just don't. The book is, as is usual "better" and I'd advise anyone to read it. The film rushes a lot of stuff, the book has the space to "breath" and you can take it all in and process it at your own pace. I loved the book as a child. I was given it for my twelth birthday and went from "I'll never read a book about talking rabbits" to "I love this and always will" in hours - while reading it on a train journey. I saw the film some four years later in November 1978 and , if anything. felt odd that what had previously felt like my private world suddenly became everyone's. That feeling got even worse when, months later in 1979 when Bright Eyes went to number 1 for six weeks. But no, the film wasn't ever for children. A lot of people. apparently more sop now than then, assumed it was, and that lead to calls for to be "inapprpriate". In my view though, that's more a parenting problem than a film problem.
Author Richard Adams based a lot of the characters on soldiers he met during WWII - Kehaar is based on a Norwegian airman who got over to the UK, and Hazel, the Threarah, Cowslip and Woundwort demonstrate different models of leadership. The book is easily in my top ten reads ever, possibly in my top five. I thoroughly recommend you try it.
Congratulations for watching it Suzy! This was a big part of my childhood, it is a terrifying yet beautiful tale. There was actually an animated tv series that’s a lot more tame for children, and they did a 4 episode remake on Netflix in 2018 with James McAvoy, Ben Kingsley and John Boyega. 🐇
I first watched this when I was about 4 or 5, and while I absolutely loved it, I'm pretty sure it scarred me for life. The scene with the rabbits trapped underground is right up there with The Bunyip from Dot and the Kangaroo for my childhood nightmare fuel.
Are you Aussie?
Because, I think it adds another element to the psychological callus-building of the story, when this hardcore anthropomorphising is about a cute little introduced species, that causes absolute havoc in our environment.
That snare might have been set by a beleaguered farmer. Or, some camper hoping for rabbit stew. And it caught Bigwig…not a bilby 😏
Gen X are tough. Aussie Gen X are terrifying😆
Big wig is my favorite Character, it always makes me wonder if he Dies At the End....whatever happen to Him...that Courage keep me on Edge throughout the whole Film ...
This was the video tape my mum would chuck on when I was 2 to 6 years old. I guess like the wiggles nowadays. I remember the start of watership down so well. burnt on my brain..... around the same age, luckily I saw plague dogs only once or more. I guess we rented that one...
You'll be happy to know that the real Watership Down was made protected land
The society that author Richard Adams created for rabbits is incredible. Society, mythology, language, customs, poetry...it's an amazing book. I first saw this movie when I was about four years old (1979 or so) and my family still uses some of the rabbits' words and expressions, to this day. The only part of the film that scared me was when Fiver had his first vision, because I thought he said the field was covered in LAVA, which I greatly feared at that age.
I ship Bigwig and Hyzenthlay. In fact I watership them.
nice.
Take that watership down, why don't ya?
I've shipped them since I was five 😂
If you liked this movie you should watch the secrets of NIHM I think you might enjoy it
This movie is beautiful and dark at the same time
59:01 I know the feeling. I am a grown man and I still cry like a baby every time I see that.
Before the softening of the world...
Parents tried to get this movie cancelled because they thought it was meant for children when it came out.
The world has always been soft. Don't kid yourself.
Wow, this is a surprise. I actually thought of asking you to watch this for your Christmas season, but you've beaten me to the punch.
As for the rating... yeah, what people thought acceptable for young kids in the 1970s was *very* different to now, I guess because there were more still growing up on small farms or seeing animals hanging on hooks in butchers' shops. Death and blood, especially of animals, was just more commonplace, and thus less censor-worthy.
The voice cast includes several well-known English theatre and TV actors, like John Hurt and Richard Briers, and the song "Bright Eyes", despite Art Garfunkel's own disdain for it, was a UK number 1 chart single for six weeks. Even outwith the film, it still puts a lump in my throat to hear it.
❤
In the original novel, the rabbits had their own language "Lapine" -
"Elil" aka "The Thousand Enemies" or simply "The Thousand" - any animal that prays on rabbits
"Lendri" = badger,
"Frith" = sun,
"Inle" = moon,
"Hrududu" = human car/vehicle
"Hraka" = droppings
There were quite a few more, but those are as much as I can remember off the top of my head 🙂
This movie is nightmare fuel for kids back in the day and still is
This film is just fantastic. It's brutal, but in a beautiful way. And of course that soundtrack!
I loved this movie as a kid. I watched so much I wore out the vhs tape.
I saw this movie back in 1980, when I was 5.
There’s always something about anthropomorphised animals in a reality-based story that gets me hooked
Incredible.. Thank you, Suzy!
I so watched this a child, actually back then It was my favourite movie
What a great movie thanks for sharing this Suzy 🙂
Saw this when I was a child scarred me then even years later as adult still feel what I felt then when seeing it!
Me before watching watership down: 🎉😊❤
Me after watching watership down: 😢 😭 😿 😢 😭 😿 😢 😭
I watched it as a kid. Now my parents won’t let me show my 8 year old nephew
i cannot watch this movie again, so im not going to watch the reaction but i hope you're okay after it. it its one of the hardest things i've ever had to watch in my life. i REFUSE to watch it again.
You should try the netflix adaptation. They toned down the violence and the blood.
Really a cartoon 🙄
You should react to Homeward Bound, its emotional but a great movie
I loved this one, I read the book and when I saw this it scared me, especially the general, two other old animated movies you might like are Secret of Nimh, and The Black Cauldron.
It's based on a bestselling book that was on the adult bestseller list. It was a mistake to classify it as a youth novel in my opinion.
Thank u so much!!! I will recommend movies to watch and react to. Also, WOW, you look stunning, Suzy! ^^
Yes, the farmer's daughter made Tab the cat let her prey go, humans aren't so bad after all.
It's based on a novel by the same author who wrote "Watership Down," but DO NOT watch "The Plague Dogs." It will break your heart.
Definitely not. It was so much darker and sadder than this.
Oh my God I just saw a baby bunny today I'm going to have a panic attack now 😂
Watership down was recently updated to PG-13 instead of Universal.
Wonder why......😅
You really liked this.😀 So , I'm going to recommend the other 4 Animated movies of my childhood. You might like them just as much or more. The first has two movies. "The Fantastic Adventures of Unico" and "Unico and the island of magic." Next is "The Last Unicorn." This movie might be my favorite animated movie of all time. The last two you have probably heard of because they were much more mainstream. "The Secret of Nimh" and "The Black Cauldron."
Ter Last Unicorn is beautiful
I cry every time
Now watch the plague dogs 🐶
This is one of my favourite movie as a child growing up. as I got older i cried like a kid. I'm proud of you Suzy for watching this.
If you have a chance try watch Jason and the argonauts the 1963 version. Up to you but its a good classic fil
The novel this is based on is among the best books I’ve ever read. I strongly recommend reading it sometime. Great reaction! 👍
Man I remember watch watership down as a child that movie hit me so hard crying I recommend watching Ernest and Ethel that movie will make you cry.
I'm not really a fan of the Netflix series, because it took to many liberties with the story, and lacked to much understanding of both the characters and important major plot points, however, I have to give them credit for the confrontation between Woundwort, Bigwig and Kehaar.
Than was done alot better in the Netflix series
It a U, it can't be that bad. Goes through every possible emotion 😁. 70's movie rating something very different.
The movie that scarred a generation. I saw this for the first time when I was 12. Yes, 12. You are brave to watch this and you should smack the person that gave you that DVD.
You are NOT ready for the Plague Dogs
Watership down is worse imo
true
My dad saw this movie at the theater a long time ago. He saw the title and thought it was about submarines. It's definitely not. A movie about naval combat would have been less scarring for my poor dad.
I first saw this at age 11. And, yes, it was traumatic.
Which is why I now make a podcast about it 🙂
Imagine watching this aged five…
My generation was tougher.
the British Board of Film Classification has admitted that giving it a U rating was 'a mistake'. It remains one of the most complained about movies in UK history.
If it’s not too much trouble Suzy, I’d love to see your reaction to The Last Unicorn if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s one of my favorite movies and it was aunt’s favorite.
Saw this as a kid. Woundwort still scares me lol.
I recommend reacting to the old cartoon/tv series The Animals of Farthing Wood. Similar to this. I grew up watching it and The Land Before Time movies.
One of my favorite books of all time. The movie had to cut so much from it. You really ought to give it a try as much as you liked it. Fiver did survive. His mate was Hyzenthlay, the doe rescued from Woundwort's warren who could also gain visions of the future. So long as Watership Down had one of their offspring, they'd forever be safe.
The book is wonderful. If you're a reader, I think you might enjoy it. Thanks, Suzy, for sharing this one!
A brilliant adaptation to one of my favorite books. Glad you saw this!
You have a pure heart ❤ and you are so lovely and beautiful both on the inside and outside ❤ 😇😌🎉
I have watched this with 8. My Grandmother thought it is a cute Bunny Movie. So i watched is until the half, then i ran crying to my rool ^^"
In the quiet of the night aboard the USS Enterprise, Commander Riker and Captain Picard found themselves in the captain's ready room, enjoying a rare moment of relaxation. The stars outside the window formed a mesmerizing backdrop, a reminder of the vastness of space they explored together.
"Jean-Luc, do you ever tire of this endless journey?" Riker asked, his voice soft, almost reflective.
Picard looked up from his book, a slight smile playing on his lips. "There are moments, Will, when the solitude of command can weigh heavily. But then, I think of the crew, of the friendships we've forged, and it all seems worthwhile."
Riker nodded, understanding the sentiment all too well. "We've been through so much together. It's those bonds that keep us going, I think."
The captain set his book aside and leaned back in his chair. "Indeed. It's not just the exploration of the unknown that drives us, but the connections we make along the way."
There was a comfortable silence between them, one that spoke of years of mutual respect and camaraderie. Riker walked over to the replicator and ordered two glasses of Saurian brandy, handing one to Picard.
"To friendship," Riker toasted, raising his glass.
"To friendship," Picard echoed, clinking his glass against Riker's.
There is a series that is a new version made by Netflix with more modern animation, where the relationships between the characters are better developed
Eh, one of the specific relationships was badly portrayed in the new version. I loved Bluebell, though.
Been a while since you made this, but good reaction. :) By the way, though the movie follows the book very well, there's TONS of stuff that got left out. Well worth reading.
27:32 That was Pipkin
Omg I was just talking about this movie
Grave of the fireflies is another animated movie not for kids...
I have a reaction to that on this channel. Such a sad movie!
Other animated animal movies that are not so kid friendly that you should check out are The Plague Dogs and Felidae.
You should watch The Plague Dogs if you think Watership Down is upsetting 😂
Uh an owl can pick up a rabbit it's a predatory bird
This is based in Britain (England), rabbit isn't on any owl species menu, by the time baby rabbits leave the burrow they are to big, definitely to heavy to be lifted by any British owl species like Barn owl, Tawny owl, Little owl, Short-eared owl and Long-eared owl, all typically praying on Mice, Voles, Small birds, amphibians and arthropods. There are definitely owl species that can prey on and lift rabbits in other countries.
@@zebedeemadness2672 oh i thought England had large owls like the Eurasian eagle owl
@@-blackmamba6278 At the time period the movie was made there wasn't, however in recent years there has been some records of them here, it's not known if they are escaped "pets" or blown over from mainland Europe. There's currently no records of successful breeding, but there's some records of attempts, it's debated by some if they are native or not if they become established. IMO they technically are native as their are fossil records of them being in Britain from around 700,000 years, so they maybe making a comeback but they haven't been here for a long time.
Many of the best stories for kids aren't for kids, Call of the Wild gets pretty brutal, Old Yeller we all know how that ends. As for fairy tales, they're positively gruesome.
The book has an epilogue tells you some about what some of the the rabbits besides Hazel do in their later years.
Loved your reaction! I’ll keep an eye out for future film reactions.
Also if you’re interested you should read the novel of Watership Down.