Duckyworth's Thoughts - Watership Down~1978

BEWARE, the following critique, like some future ones, and some previous ones, has major spoilers. I know that I've put spoilers in the others, but I just want to make sure you don't read it if you haven't seen the film. Parts that you may not want to spoil the film by reading will be marked with 'MAJOR SPOILERS!!!' besides the paragraphs.

Hello, friends!

First, some news to tell you all.......
I know that I haven't uploaded the next part of Mind Over Matter for quite a while, but I am working on some old mini comics that I have been keeping in the sketch archives for a while, so I just want to colour those in first. Also, I've been visiting my University a few times and yesterday, I saw Disney Pixar's Brave!
I may do a Duckyworth's thoughts on that in the future.

But, today's Duckyworth's Thoughts critique will be of the 1977 film, Watership Down. Sorry if any nightmares are rekindled at the mention of that title...



So, when I first saw this film, I knew little about it, despite the fact that it was REALLY violent at times...
But, when I saw it, it wasn't just violent, but it was much more than that. Most of what I'd heard about it was simply that it caused a shock because it was rabbits ripping each other to shreds.
But, now that I've seen some more films, it actually reminds me of films like Return to Oz, Plague Dogs, The Black Cauldron, An American Tail, The Secret of NIMH and similar films that were made as family films, but were filled with DARK elements inside them, making very dark films, which either gave way to cool elements or beautiful elements..... And Watership Down is one of those darkly beautiful films.

First of all, I want to get the few problems I have with the film out of the way..... While the film is very good, and one of my favourites, it can be pretty clumsy at times....
One of the few things that gets to me about it is the fact that some of the animation can be slightly choppy at times, and that the colours and designs of the characters can vary from one scene to the next. For example, in one scene, a character called Blackavar is almost completely black, and then in the next, he's a reddish brown, in the next he's grey, and in another he's light brown. A bit of a nitpick, I know, but it's one of the few things that bothers me when I watch it.

'MAJOR SPOILERS!!!' Also, while it does follow the book pretty well, I have to say, WHY did they have the villain, General Woundwort KILL off Blackavar, of all characters?! I've read the book recently, and while I'm not completely sure of his final fate (did he stay, did he leave as he proposed in an earlier chapter?) as he seems to vanish from the final few chapters , I know for a fact that he does not die in the book. It felt really mean-spirited to kill such a tragic character in the film, and I like to imagine that he did survive, as I have read the book, and he was one of my favourite characters in the book and film. 'MAJOR SPOILERS!!!'

But, THAT said, this film is a very beautiful film.... The music, the backgrounds, and the overall feel of the tranquility of nature is just so pretty, even if it does mix in the gritty, harsh reality of nature into it... And on top of that, I love how this film puts in a subtle environmental message without rubbing it in your face... I've heard that environmental films like Fern Gully and Once Upon A Forest annoyed some people because they rub the environment in your face, but this film doesn't force it on you, it plays it very subtle.

And, speaking of beautiful moments, I LOVE Bright Eyes, one of the prettiest songs, but still one of the saddest, that I've ever heard. Here is a link to my favourite version. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MODq81…
But the music can also build up suspense and fear at the precise moments too, which is pretty often, no surprise.

Next, let's talk about the characters. While I have to admit, I found it difficult to decipher between Hazel and Dandelion at times, because their designs are so similar, I do enjoy how different each of the characters can be at times, and how the voices MAKE the characters, if you know what I mean. I have to say that my faves are Bigwig, Fiver, Keehar (we'll talk about him later ), Blackavar and Hyzenthlay.
And, of course, the voice actors, as I said, are BRILLIANT in the film - one of the most obvious examples being the one and only John Hurt as Hazel (who also voiced The Horned King in the Black Cauldron, Snitter in Plague Dogs and John Merrick aka the Elephant Man, in the Elephant Man. ) Fiver's voice actor really captured the frailty and nervous nature of the character in the book, but at times, he was still able to sound relatively insightful to the situation, like he was in the book, Blackavar sounded tortured but still headstrong when the need arose, Hyzenthlay's voice was just SO pretty (), and of course, General Woundwort SOUNDED like he meant business as the main villain.... Those are only a few examples, but those are how good the voice actors are in this film.
But, while we're on the subject, I'll just say, WHAT is up with Cowslip?! I know that in the book there's something off about him, but the way he was animated felt a bit strange to me.

Now, let's talk about my favourite character, Keehar the seagull. Yeah, I know picking the comic relief character as my favourite is a little bit predictable, as I love finding humour in dark things, but Keehar is just SO hilarious in this film. My favourite parts with him are probably when he tries to fly but plummets to the ground because of his injured wing, when he crash lands and says 'Perfect landing', when he almost blows Bigwig's cover in one scene, and of course, when he shouts 'P*SS OFF!!'. And of course, the voice actor for Keehar (the late Zero Mostel) also made this character, making it believeable that he doesn't completely speak the rabbits' language, but he is also a very goofy and fun character, often very shrill and boisterous.

'MAJOR SPOILERS!!!' The dark moments in the film are very effective, but they still follow the book very closely (Bigwig gets trapped in a snare, the final fight between Bigwig and Woundwort, and Fiver's skills as an oracle that forsees important, but very scary, future events.) 'MAJOR SPOILERS!!!' And, while they do still shock me slightly, I still admire how they portray the harsh reality of the rabbit's lives - let's see Thumper from Bambi last one day in this film, hmm?

Speaking of dark moments, while the villain, General Woundwort, makes you pretty tense at times, he is still credible - not overly scary, but you know that he means business. And then, in the climax, he just turns into a MONSTER! I actually felt REALLY nervous watching that scene the first time, and it still makes me feel pretty tense when I see that scene......

Also, HOW did this film get a 'U' rating?! When I looked at the disc, the appropriate rating was also there - '12'.

To finish off, I feel that the film covers all of the major plot points in the book pretty well. Of course, they had to edit some parts and remove some stuff to fit it into an hour and a half, and some major stuff does get trimmed down or removed completely, but I LOVE how close it follows the book - it's like Coraline, which follows its book on almost EVERY note pefectly. Speaking of stuff that was removed from the book, the chapters where Dandelion tells stories, while it does show us the mythology that the rabbits have, actually BORED me slightly. I felt that they were diversions from the actual story, and I have to admit, I did skip those parts reading it a second time. But, they did need the first story, of El-ahrairah (The Prince of Rabbits') blessing, so I can understand why they kept that in.

I haven't seen the animated series, so I can't compare this to that adaptation, but from what I've heard, most people prefer the original film.

I wouldn't really say that this film is underrated, as it was a success at the box office, a lot of people did see it, and I'm sure that a lot of people today still talk about it, but, if you haven't seen it, and love dark but still loveable films passed off as family films (like The Secret of NIMH), this film is worth a watch, even if you haven't read the book.



I'm also currently working on a comic based on TYSON'S PARENTS, so that will be one to look out for, I promise that it will be worth the wait.

See you all soon!


UPCOMING DUCKYWORTH'S THOUGHTS -
Coraline
Home on the Range
Return to Oz
Neverending Story
The Secret of NIMH
Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas
The Elephant Man
Tintin - The Secret Of The Unicorn
Dude, Where's My Car?
9
The Longest Day
Plague Dogs
Dead Space: Downfall
An American Tail
The Black Cauldron
Animal Farm
Pokemon - Lucario and the Mystery Of Mew
Pokemon - The Rise of Darkrai
Brave


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