- 101 Minutes. Rated PG.
“Hazel, look… the field… it’s covered with blood!”
My friend once told me that her first grade teacher decided to show a cute animated movie about bunnies and their adventures in the wild. Unbeknownst to her, she had just scarred a bunch of 6-year-olds for life as they watched a group of rabbits get terrorized by predators in their search for a safe home. Richard Adam’s Watership Down was scary and emotionally scaring back in the 80’s. This is the UK’s response to those Disney movies like Bambi and Dumbo–but you never saw Bambi’s mom torn apart by a dog.
The story is based on a collection of tales that Richard Adams told to his young children during family trips (he sounds like my kind of dad). The story begins when rabbit Hazel (voiced by John Hurt) leads a group of bunnies away from their warren when his brother, a runt named Fiver (voiced by Richard Briers), starts having scary premonitions about death. Their escape is not easy and most of the warren does not believe in Fiver. Secretary to the Chief Rabbit, Big Wig, (voiced by Michael Graham Cox) loses his job after allowing them to disturb the Chief with their “non sense.” The chief rabbit is old, lethargic and couldn’t be bothered (an easy stab at politics today). Big Wig gets fired without his military veteran benefits because the entire warren dies at the hands of a building project (make way for progress!)
Along the way, they encounter many predators, man and other rabbits being the main opposition (insert conservation message here). Fiver is finally sure they have found the safe hills he has imagined near an old farmhouse. They nurse to health a seagull named Kehaar (voiced by Zero Mostel) who sounds like a Dom DeLuise with a bad Russian accent. Dom is most well known, in my eyes, for his portrayal of Itchy Itchiford in All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), a movie worth revisiting from my childhood one of these days.
They stay with Kehaar enjoying their new safe home and doing guy stuff. Being the bearer of bad news, Kehaar finally exclaims “Vere are Chicks? You need Chicks!” Kehaar decides to be the wingman (pun intended) and searches for does. Who says getting girls isn’t hard work? Kehaar finds some but they are trapped in a militant dictatorship warren called Efrafa. All deserters are punished in this warren. They must hatch a plan of escape from the inside. Big Wig volunteers to be a spy because he’s the most awesome rabbit and a military veteran.
Although Hazel should be the star, Big Wig is my favorite rabbit. He’s tough, smart, and has a lot of heart. He takes on General Woundwart single-handedly. Sometimes you forget that you’re watching a movie about rabbits. The animation is tough to beat. I miss the hand-drawn days.
I know librarians always say the book was better, but this was a prime example. Trying to turn a 500 page book into a children’s 1.5 hr movie lost most of its suspense and symbolism. The constant danger they were in is glossed over in a montage of them running through different fields for 15 minutes. The terrible warrens they visit feels too brief to understand their true natures. Most of their mythological allegory stories were not included, either. These stories reflected their situations and reminded me of the Odyssey. Did I also mention there’s some terrible music, too?
Don’t worry about seeing the movie. This extensive three minute trailer sums it up nicely. Too bad my friend’s teacher didn’t have YouTube back then.
