Watership Down (1978)

I had absolutely no knowledge of WATERSHIP DOWN was going to be about except that it featured rabbits in some capacity . I had an inkling it was going to be some patronising , juvenile crap that anyone above the age of seven would find nauseating . It says something about the quality of television on the run up to Christmas when a bitter and twisted 39 year old man sits down to watch a feature length about talking rabbits - Talking rabbits ! OMG , it's not like the author Richard Adams meant the story to be some drug metaphor is it ? OMG talking rabbits just how pathetic is that ? And the one thing that I remembered on its initial release - And which I'm still trying to forget to this very day - is that gawd awful song by the guy with the worst hairstyle in the history of pop music . You know the song .... " bright eyes burning like fire " . Bad enough I saw BARNEY'S BIG ADVENTURE the previous day . Now I was going to be watching equally childish sentimental crap with talking rabbits

Oh hold on . I've just seen WATERSHIP DOWN this very minute . Can everyone reading this review please ignore erroneous phrases like " Childish pathetic crap " because this is not how the story plays out . I do confess that perhaps the original story has perhaps been slightly flawed in the adaption with the hierarchy of the original warren somewhat unexplained ( For example why is it treason to leave the warren and search for a new one ? ) but that is my one and only criticism of this superb animated adventure which can be enjoyed by anyone of any age

In a nut shell WATERSHIP DOWN resembles one of those post apocalypse dramas by John Wyndham or more especially John Christopher except instead of humans it features rabbits that talk . No seriously forget all about the characters being humanized bunnies , this is a dark dramatic adventure where survivors of an eco-disaster try and find sanctuary in a bleak , desolate and dangerous world . As crazy as it sounds some people have picked up on the coincidence that the plot resembles 28 DAYS LATER and one can't help thinking that it's a little bit stronger than coincidence . If you've seen one you can't noticing the quite striking similarities between the two especially the climax . Of course it could be that the original novel of WATERSHIP DOWN was influenced by Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS which seems to have influenced much of Alex Garland's work but even so

A thoroughly enthralling adventure that may have children weeping at the sad bits will certainly keep adults interested as they try and spot analogies . Let me repeat once again that while there's sad scenes there is nothing sickeningly sentimental and is a shockingly sophisticated tale . I certainly rate as being one of the greatest British productions of the 1970s