All Rise...

Judge Brett Cullum warns all the bunnies that there is a dog loose in the woods!

The Charge

All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and when they catch you, they will kill you…but first they must catch you.

Opening Statement

When I was a kid, Watership Down was a movie that meant a lot to me. It was a simply drawn cartoon; however, the subject material was dark, raw, and often disturbing. It presented a surprisingly violent tale of bunny rabbits that lose their home, and have to fight a long hard battle to find a new one. These were talking animals, but they were hardly cute floppy adventurers out to make us giggle and clap with glee like so much typical family fare. They died horrible deaths, they had desires, and they had to work together to survive anything. Life and death were treated as equals, and the film cast a strange spell that led me to the original printed story and much more. It was a film that begged me to consider what life actually meant, and what mankind's dominion over the earth meant to the lesser more humble creatures that inhabit our spaces. It was deeper than it had any right to be.

Facts of the Case

Watership Down was a British production released in October of 1978, and proved to be something people said could never be done. It created an adaptation of the beloved Richard Adams novel, which was over 500 pages long. The written tale was an epic of bloody rabbit wars and strife, complicated and detailed in both plot and geography. The basic story was far removed from any Disney film or traditional kid fare, but was treated with the right respect and gravity by director Martin Rosen (Women in Love) who wanted to make sure the film adaptation was just as grave as the literary treatment. He worked with Richard Adams to develop a script that retained a lot of the spirit and story elements of the source material. Rosen wanted to take an artistic approach to the visuals, and decided it should be a film that would advance the dramatic capability of visual storytelling. He got animators to create landscapes that looked like living watercolors, and they designed rabbits that were real yet completely expressive. He obsessed about the soundtrack as well. Orchestral movements and repeating motifs were created, as well as a haunting song performed by Art Garfunkel called "Bright Eyes." It was also the very first animated film to be presented in Dolby surround sound, so that all of these soundtrack elements could have as much impact as the visuals.

The cast was cobbled together with great attention to what they could bring to the story. The vocal talents included respected actors such as John Hurt (Alien), Richard Briers, Michael Graham Cox (Women in Love), John Bennett (The Fifth Element), and Roy Kinnear (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory). It also marked the last performance of Zero Mostel (The Producers) who played Kehaar the seagull to great comic effect. Their voices were recorded before the animation was completed, so that the artists could adapt to the individual performances with ease and attention to detail.

The Evidence

Watership Down was created with a lot of care and attention, and thankfully so is this product to celebrate its achievements. Criterion has done their usual remarkable job in producing this collector's edition Blu-ray which honors the film completely. Central to the release is a remastered transfer in high definition digital video and an uncompressed stereo soundtrack. The film has never looked or sounded better. Often high definition transfers of animation is a tough job, but Criterion raises the bar with Watership Down which often looks like a watercolor painting come to life with detail and colors looking clear and resplendent. The soundtrack is well balanced with the orchestral mournful score delicately dancing between the voice acting and sound effects. The overall effect rivals the original theatrical presentation, and actually may be more technically impressive.

Supplements are concentrated around the process of the film from production including execution as well as a look at the impact of the style of animation. First up director Martin Rosen is featured in a new interview where he recalls the origin of the project. He was new to animation, and it was something he knew little about going in. All Rosen knew was the book haunted him, and he figured the only way to bring it to life was in cartoon. Watership Down proved to be a project that was fueled mainly by his passion and commitment to making it despite the lack of interest from studios. He talks at great length about the process, and it is a great conversation. In another segment celebrated film maker Guillermo del Toro speaks about his experience with the film, and about the tradition of using animal metaphors to explore the human condition. The third featurette is a 2005 video recording with the animators talking about their process to flesh out Watership Down. The next supplement is an option to watch the feature film with storyboards accompanying the experience so you get to see how each segment was designed and imagined. Finally there is a vintage trailer that shows you how the film was marketed back in the day. Included in the printed booklet is an essay by Gerard Jones who fleshes out the controversial subject matter that Watership Down meditated on. He calls it basically a family friendly meditation on the weight of death.

Closing Statement

Watership Down is a story that means more than just cartoon rabbits looking for a new home. It's a narrative that never shies away from the fragility of life and death, and how this impacts us throughout our own journey. Director Martin Rosen found an innovative way to turn a very complex dense novel into a simple and effective hour and a half animated feature. Though much of the detail of the novel had to be simplified, its spirit remains intact and whole. Criterion provides us with a 1.85:1/1080p HD transfer that captures the stunning art, a PCM 2.0 Stereo track, and also manages to gather up a fine assessment of the process from the crew who made it all possible. This is a collector's edition that is worthy of the film it represents. You couldn't ask for more, and watching the Blu-ray is a chance to rediscover this classic in a stunning way.

The Verdict

Guilty of making rabbits have souls, Watership Down is a beautiful story about life and death out in the wild pastoral fields of England.

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