Movie Thoughts: Watership Down (1978)

• Released: October 14,1978
• Directed by: Martin Rosen, John Hubley
• Running time: 1 h 31 min
• Rating 2.5/5

Synopsis

A group of rabbits tries to establish their own warren, something which proves more difficult than they could've thought as they end up at war with another group called Efrafa.

My Thoughts

I know a lot of people like this movie, it's kind of considered a cult classic in the xenofiction movie type. This is my third time watching it and I'm really trying to like it here, and I'm sorry to say that I just do not think this is a good movie. 

The plot follows a small group of rabbits which leaves their home warren, which is prophesied to be destroyed by one of our main characters, Fiver. Fiver's brother Hazel takes charge of the group and they start a long and arduous journey to find a new and safe home. Once they get there, they face a new issue: they don't have any does to breed with, which would lead to the eventual extinction of their newly established warren. The rabbits try to find some in a nearby group called Efrafa, led by the tyrannical general Woundwort. Will they prevail?

It's a decent idea for a plot but god, the execution of this movie just doesn't do it for me. Overall I just consider the movie to be rather boring, to be honest. And I know calling something "boring" isn't a really helpful criticism, but I can explain. The plot moves rather slowly (quick in some parts, but overall the pace is rather mellow). Our main characters outside of Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig and maybe one or two others are bland (or really annoying in Kehaar's case), and I can't even tell half of them apart (something I'll get to later). And even the characters who do have something to them like the ones I mentioned I just simply do not care for. Nothing really made me say "oh, that makes me like Bigwig" or "oh, that makes me like Hazel." Bigwig admittedly has the best development out of any of the characters but he's still not a character I actively can get into. So yes, I wasn't invested in this movie because I wasn't invested in the characters at all and the pace didn't keep me engaged, either.

Something also holding it back for me is the fact that our main characters' (our "heroes") motivation throughout the latter half of the story is simply to get some does (women) to pass on their genes. Which just rubs me the wrong way. That's their initial motivation for getting the hutch rabbits and later the Efrafans, so they have does to have kits with. So it just makes our main characters come off as rather unlikable with them trying to free these rabbits for the sake of just having them bear their children.

This could've so easily been fixed as well. Previously, one of the rabbits (I think his name was Holly or Blackberry?) encountered Efrafa, escaped and then carried the message to the Watership Down warren that the rabbits in Efrafa are being ruled with an iron fist and relentlessly abused. The Watership Down rabbits could then decide to actually do something heroic and rather than rescuing the female rabbits for the sake of breeding they just rescue them because it's the right and heroic thing to do. There being does among the rescued would be an added bonus but nothing more. Would make our heroes seem actually heroic and likable rather than the really bad vibes I get from their current motivation. And I don't care for the "they're rabbits, it's just their instinct to breed" excuse, these animals are anthropomorphized enough for us to expect better from the Watership Down crew. They're not just talking rabbits, they have lore, unique traits and societies, etc. 

As for the visuals, that's just another thing I don't find particularly great. The animation often looks rough and unfinished and the character designs of our main cast (sans a few) look so similar and bland that it's hard to tell everyone apart. Even among the other rabbit warrens we come across it just seems they have a couple of body/face types they keep recycling and recoloring for various characters. I have this issue in the 2018 Netflix adaptation, too, but the character designs just don't do it for me. Neither does the animation, to be honest. I wouldn't call it outright bad but it looks rough around the edges and a bit unpolished. The lip sync is off a lot of the time especially.

Now for what everyone talks about when talking about this movie: the violence. And...honestly, what do you expect me to say? Yes, there's some brutal violence in this movie. It's there. I don't have much else to say about it other than that those scenes at least didn't leave me bored because something actually interesting was going on on-screen. But still, since I don't care much about the characters (I will say, poor Blackavar, though) I don't particularly care for the things that happen to them. So a lot of character deaths don't leave much of an impact aside from the violence/blood in the scene depicted. Neither does the ending (though it wasn't brutal) where Hazel died. 

So, yeah, I really am trying to like this movie. I know I'm hard on it, but as a huge fan of animal xenofiction (including the more violent ones) I should probably love it. But after three re-watches I'm pretty certain that this movie just isn't for me. Same with the Watership Down book (which I've reviewed on my book review blog) and same with the Netflix adaptation (review will follow on this blog eventually). I don't hate this movie, but I just don't really see anything worthwhile in it, not in the characters, visuals, story, etc. I'm glad so many people enjoy this one and it has gathered a cult following, but for me I guess I'll look elsewhere when it comes to animal xenofiction movies.