Watership Down

WATERSHIP DOWN (PG)

D: Martin Rosen

Nepenthe (Martin Rosen)

UK 1978

92 mins

Animated

W: Martin Rosen [based on the novel by Richard Adams]

Mus: Angela Morley

voices of: John Hurt (Hazel), Richard Briers (Fiver), Ralph Richardson (Chief Rabbit), Zero Mostel (Kehaar), Roy Kinnear (Pipkin), Denholm Elliott (Cowslip), John Bennett (Holly)

Richard Adams fabled novel gets a rather flat animated treatment here, one in which the songs featuring on the soundtrack are far more memorable than the film itself.

The story follows a group of rabbits searching for a new home after their previous habitat is destroyed, a parable for the apocalypse rejigged as an animal kingdom adventure.

The film slightly falls between two stools of being too much for young children to grasp understanding of, whilst the rudimentary animation just doesn't quite cut it for adults. Good enough for its time, but the style has dated incredibly poorly, quite like Animal Farm (1955).

6/10