Viper is a cute rabbit but carries a prophetic vision that may be bad as it confirms near the end of his own mooring and the collapse of his place. The rabbit decided to persuade seven other rabbits to leave with him in search of a new home. Everyone is venturing on an exciting journey and perhaps along the way rabbits will face many obstacles including predators and a cemetery full of rats. When they arrive at their final destination, the hill called Watership Down, they find themselves not at the end.
The 'camera' takes a conventionally objective viewpoint, perpetually rolling over rolling countryside, which effectively robs the plot of all its terror and tension.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
