Watership down is not a movie to leave your kids to watch, but its a great movie to watch as a family and discuss afterward. The most terrifying animated film ever bunny rabbits. In 1978, one of the greatest british animated films of the past 50 years was released and arguably traumatised an entire generation. Watership down is quite simply my favourite animated film of all time. Watership down movie poster imagine this hanging out the wall of your local theater.
Martin rosens 1978 adaptation of richard adams watership down. Hazel voiced by john hurt, our protagonist, has a little brother named fiver richard briers. The novel was adapted into an animated feature film in 1978, and later, a television series, which ran from. Parents need to know that watership down is the 1978 animated adaptation of the classic richard adams novel. Released on 19 october 1978, the film was an immediate. The film is animated and voiced by ralph richardson, john hurt and richard briers. Watership down 1978 official trailer john hurt movie youtube. Watership down 1978 rotten tomatoes movie trailers. And who from that era will ever forget the song bright eyes.
Rated u in the united kingdom the equivalent of a g rating in canada today, 1978 s watership down inadvertently traumatized its young british viewers. Add to basket watership down 1978 watership down 1978 genre film animated adventure. Minor wear, oddly stapled with foldout center needing to be undone to read. The film has its moments of beauty and is refreshingly dark.
With watership down, firsttime director martin rosen and his team of animators created a dark, beautiful work that blends poetic mysticism and austere realism. Watership down wasnt the only ambitious animated adaptation to be released. Parents unfamiliar with the animated film s literary origins were unprepared for the violent scenes of death and carnage that would unfold. Watership down criterion collection dvd 1978 best buy.
Released november 1st, 1978, watership down stars john hurt, richard briers, michael graham cox, john bennett the pg movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 32 min, and received a score of out of 100. The movie stays mainly faithful to the story besides revealing what happened to the old warren and the death of blackavar. Catholic digest richard adams watership down, a masterful epic about rabbits, occupies a space somewhere between the wind in the willows and the once and future king, though it is more naturalistic and less whimsical than either. These free screenings are part of moxie flix, a monthly series focusing on essential films for kids to see before they turn. Released on 19 october 1978, the film was an immediate success and it became the sixth most. Not only is there some mild swearing, the level of violence. The vocal talent, animation style both in the main story and in the mythical opening, soundtrack and script all work wonderfully, shortening the material of the book but not losing all of its themes. Watership down is one of my favorite books, and this adaptation does fine service to richard adams work. Watership down is a 1978 british adventure drama animated film writen, produced and directed by martin rosen and based on the book by richard adams.
A 1978 animated film directed by martin rosen, adapted from the 1972 novel of the same name by richard a description of tropes appearing in watership down. I just reread the book, having read it twice before. Watership down 2018 t 1 season british tv shows a warren of rabbits battles many threats on their daring journey to find a new home in this adaptation of the classic novel by richard adams. Watership down is a 1978 british animated adventuredrama film, written, produced and directed by martin rosen and based on the 1972 novel by richard adams. Watership down 1978 i still remember this beautiful yet horrifying movie like it was yesterday. For the new criterion edition, a new highdefinition digital restoration was created from the original negative, and the original soundtrack was remastered and restored.
Watership down 1978 stream and watch online moviefone. Originally released on october 19 1978, the film was an immediate success and. Its a decidedly mature animated feature thats alternately somber, exhilarating, quiet, scary, trippy, terrifying, violent, actionpacked, and. Watership down original cover us of course if you lived in america at the time, this is the version you would have had. I doubt martin rosen and john hubley, directors of the 1978 film version, wanted to scare the bejesus out of their young audience either. With this passion project, screenwriterproducerdirector martin rosen brilliantly achieved what had been thought nearly impossible. The voice talent is a whoswho of british theatre and film. Watership down has a creative ending, and intense climax, but is just so utterly confusing for a film with such a simple overall story. In 1978, an animated film of watership down was released in theaters in england, starring john hurt hazel and michael cox bigwig. Rent watership down 1978 starring john hurt and richard briers on dvd and bluray. Originally released on october 19 1978, the film was an immediate success and it became the sixth most popular film if 1979 at the british box office. Watership down is a film that felt like reading a novel while watching, not because it is long, but the vibes, it kinda feel like you are in the novel. Unique among animated films of any time period, watership down is a classic that has improved with age, especially when compared to todays computer enabled mediocrity.
Watership down is an amazing film thats hard to categorize. The script is faithful to the book, with the expected compressions required for adapting a book to screen. Part one of martin rosens 1978 film watership down. Okay, weve not covered watership down on this site before but, for many adults all grown up, its one of those movies which scarred you as a kid. Watership down 1978 a group of rabbits flee their doomed warren and face many dangers to find and protect their new home. Watership down is a world of rabbits in darkness popmatters. Watership down source, the 1978 british animated film. Watership down pg 1h 31min animation, adventure, drama 1 november 1978 usa a group of rabbits flee their doomed warren and face many dangers to find and protect their new home. Watership down 1978 streaming umbrella entertainment. Watership down 1978, the perfect easter or passover movie. Oct 23, 2019 1978 british animated adventuredrama film, written, produced and directed by martin rosen and based on the 1972 novel by richard adams. It is the yardstick all other serious anthropomorphic fare is judged by. Watership down original cover uk imagine this book hot off the presses as you check out the cover for the uk first edition.
A 1978 film feature has different legacy than the book. Of necessity it has had to lose a lot of the original story in order to fit into the time constraints of the visual format, and on the whole it follows the essential narrative fairly well. A 1978 animated film directed by martin rosen, adapted from the 1972 novel of the same name by richard adams. As a 5 year old, this was my first ever horror movie. Although this is an animated film featuring cute rabbits as the main characters, this is far from a childrens movie, and considering the. It was recently made into a limited series by bbc that was released on december 25, 2018. The artwork is captivating, the characters compelling. Watership down tells the tale of a very dark journey. Full length animated movies, tv shows and shorts found on youtube. With its naturalistic handdrawn animation, dreamily expressionistic touches, gorgeously bucolic background design, and elegant voice work from such superb english actors as john hurt, ralph richardson, richard briers, and denholm elliott, watership down is an emotionally arresting, darktoned allegory about freedom amid political turmoil. He can tell when things are going to happen and he can sense whether they will be good or bad.
Watership down is the tale of a group of rabbits in search of a home. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. Hazel and his younger brother fiver have lived in sandleford all their lives. Watership down 1978, the perfect easter or passover movie still from the movie watership down 1978 with its delicate colors, nonfluffy rabbits and a beautiful english countryside, watership down has captured the imagination of viewers for generations. This wiki is about all things watership down, and anyone can edit.
I think it is the greatest adaptation of a novel any genre ever made and one of the most underrated movies of alltime. Dec 23, 2018 like any piece of relatively popular or lauded literature, it was only a matter of time before watership down was adapted to the screen. Attracting the cream of british voice talent, led by john hurt and richard briers, watership down is an admirable example of an uncompromising british animation that initially struggled to find distribution before box office returns confounded expectations. What does surprise me now though is that the film is rated u universal, suitable for all here in the uk. It was financed by a consortium of british financial institutions and was distributed by cinema international corporation in the united kingdom. Watership down is one of my favourite books, and i loved this film when it first came out. The miniseries will be adapted by tom bidwell and directed by noam murro. Mar 30, 2016 after dozens complained about channel 5 airing watership down on easter sunday, the head of the british board of film classification bbfc has said that, if released today, the terrifying urated. A warren of rabbits battles many threats on their daring journey to find a new home in this adaptation of the classic novel by richard adams. Dec 10, 2018 the 1978 animated version of watership down holds a particular place in the cultural psyche of an entire generation. Watership down full full movie, watership down full full movie streaming watership down full movie engsub watch watership down full english full movie online watership down full film online watch. It is widely known that watership down gives both children and adults nightmares but apparently, not all parents remember just how brutal the bunnythemed movie.
Ralph bakshi, who earned some industry notoriety with the first xrated animated feature in the history of cinema, fritz the cat 1972, also brought his version of the lord of the rings 1978 to the big screen. Watership down is a 2018 britishamerican animated television miniseries directed by noam murro. As the animated classic turns 40, ed power speaks to director martin rosen and explores the film s legacy. Watership down 1978i still remember this beautiful yet. It gives many facets of what an adult, nature fiction bookgone cartoon movie should be. Unique in the annals of animated films, watership down is a serious, even grim. Both me and my then 9 years old daughter we loved this 1978 british animated film, which can be watched with interest not only by children by also by adults. Watership down the film traumatised a generation gets a. How the often nightmarish 1970s film of watership down cleared the. Watership down is an imperfect film with some of the most powerful moments. It was rejected by several publishers before collings accepted the manuscript. While watership down is a great film, be sure you inform her that its not about cute, fluffy bunnies playing in the meadow. Voiced by a fine cast, with stellar work from john hurt and richard briers, watership down is an imperfect film with some of the most powerful moments ever created for the genre.
Movie has detailed fightingwounds and this site is aimed for a mature audience. It was finached by a constortium of british financial institutions. Its heavy, serious stuff but its also a moving, engaging film. The movie doesnt sugarcoat deeper themes such as the life and death struggle in nature, the struggle between freedom and totalitarianism, and the negative impact humans can have on the environment. I would never spoil the wonder that is watership down. Watership down is a 1978 british animated adventuredrama film, written, produced and directed by martin rosen and based on the 1972 novel by richard. The watership down, the book, is not great literature. It has a very fine animation that feels more realistic than other animation films today. Watership down 1978 123movies 123 movies watch full movie. We work on a general condition grading scale, but more importantly we try to describe flaws and defects in detail in addition to the grade. Watership down 1978 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. How the music score for the 1978 feature film watership down came together scans of the original music cue sheet from watership down can be seen here 6 pages there has been much confusion in britain about who composed the music score for watership down. In this celebrated adaptation of richard adamss classic novel, an offshoot group of rabbits struggle to break from their failing, violent community to form a utopian society.
Watership down 1978 movie clip the great frith made. Watership down c nepenthe productions and warner brot. Below, more of my impressions, with some limited spoilers. More handmaids tale than peter rabbit why watership down. Netflixs watership down loses the complexity of novel. Animators were at the top of their midtolate1970s game. It is the third adaption of the 1972 novel by the same name, written by richard adams. The source is dedicated for the movie and tv series adaptation of richard adams book named watership down warning. The timeless animation classic based on the bestselling novel by richard adams. A group of rabbits flee their doomed warren and face many dangers to find and protect their new home.
Watership down is a heroic fantasypolitical allegory novel about a small group of rabbits, written by english author richard adams. Shop watership down criterion collection dvd 1978 at best buy. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Watership down 1978 when a young rabbit named fiver richard briers has a prophetic vision that the end of his warren is near, he persuades seven other rabbits to leave with him in search of a. Rent watership down 1978 on dvd and bluray dvd netflix. Everyone remembers the hopelessly sentimental art garfunkel theme song.
Nestled among the peaceful meadows of country england lives an idyllic community of rabbits but when warned that their warren will be. Watership down the film traumatised a generation gets a gentler update a new version of the 1970s classic promises to be a gentler affair. John hurt, richard briers and ralph richardson watership down 1978 official trailer john hurt movie a group of rabbits flee their. Concerned by troubling visions his brother has about an encroaching threat, hazel and several other rabbits set out in search of a new safe haven. Fiver foresees great danger to the rabbits home warren.
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