WATERSHIP DOWN (1978)
Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: PG
Duration: 92 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 (No Subtitles)
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Martin Rosen
Cast: Denholm Elliott, John Hurt, Nigel Hawthorne, Richard Briers
Screenwriter/director Martin Rosen's (The Plague Dogs) adaptation of the Richard Adams source novel is a film that was sort of traumatic for me when I saw it as a kid still in my single digits. It was an animated film with much darker and heavier themes than I had been exposed to previously, a dystopian tale of a warren rabbits who become displaced by the intrusion of land developers, and the perilous journey they embark upon in search of a safe home.
Audio/Video: Watership Down (19178) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment presented in 1080p HD and framed in 1.78:1 widescreen. The image is solid, I own the Criterion Blu-ray so I was keen to put compare one another, there is a slight framing difference but it negligible, with Umbrella's 1.78:1 slightly losing a sliver of information along the left and right.
The film begins with a stylized genesis story of the sun-god called Frith who created all life, initially making all of the animals of the world vegetarians, living peacefully together and feeding on the plants and grasses. However, it came to be that the rabbits of the world began to eat more than their fair share of the grasses, and hunger set in. To fix that Frith then created flesh eating predators who would prey on the rabbits, keeping their numbers in check, but he also gave rabbits the advantage of long-legs and cunning instinct, and the ability to flee quickly and burrow beneath the ground.
After this prologue were introduced to a rabbit named Fiver, who is plagued by nightmarish visions of blood sweeping through the warren, a premonition of doom. Fiver tells his older brother Hazel about his vision, and the pair decide to approach the warren's leader, but he dismisses the rabbit's worries outright, instructing the warren's law enforcer Captain Holly to prevent any rabbits from leaving the warren.
Ignoring the will of their leader Fiver and Hazel manage to escape the warren along with a handful of like-minded rabbits, fleeing to the unknown English countryside, making their way towards Fiver's vision of a new, idyllic home, which he has also glimpsed in a vision. Along the way they encounter a friendly gull, hostile warrens of rabbits, and predatory cats and dogs. Danger seems to be lurking just beyond every hill, they even lose the only doe rabbit among them to a bird of prey, which sets them on a path to free doe rabbits from a neighboring farm and a militaristic warren of rabbits ruled by tyrannical General Woundwart.
As a young kid it exposed me to the heady themes of war, death and religion that at that point, still in the single digits, I had never had never really thought about, and to be quite frank I found very troubling, and I suffered strange Orwellian rabbit nightmares for days after seeing it. There's definitely no shortage of disturbing images,with numerous bloodied bunnies being savaged by one another and by predators, or being shot, suffocated and choked out by snare traps, it's really kind of devastating.
The is an animated film that elevates the format, an artisenal blend of illustrated
animation and simple yet superb watercolor backgrounds, with a gorgeous score from Angela Morley that also pushes the emotional depth of everything. The voice cast is also rather good, including John Hurt (Alien) as Hazel, Ralph Richardson
(Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes) as Chief Rabbit, Richard Briers (Cockneys vs Zombies) as Fiver, Denholm Elliott (Raiders of the Lost Ark)as Cowslip, and John Bennett (The House That Dripped Blood) as Holly, among many other well-known British actors who all give wonderful emotive nuance to their furry animated counterparts.
Audio/Video: Watership Down (19178) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment presented in 1080p HD and framed in 1.78:1 widescreen. The image is solid, I own the Criterion Blu-ray so I was keen to put compare one another, there is a slight framing difference but it negligible, with Umbrella's 1.78:1 slightly losing a sliver of information along the left and right.
Audio on the disc comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono track that delivers dialogue and the score from Angela Morley
without issue, there are no subtitles on this disc of any sort, nor any extras, this is a bare-bones release, there's not even a start-up menu, it goes right into the film when you drop the disc in the player.
Watership Down (1978) is a wonderful, but dark, animated film, the type of movie that lures young kids in with the magic of animation and the promise of anthropomorphic rabbits, and then it turns around and sucker punches you right in the gut with the sort of allegorical kinder-trauma that you'll carry around with you well into adulthood. Umbrella Entertainment's Blu-ray offers an A/V presentation that is absolutely on par with Criterion's release, but it is a no-frills presentation with no extras or subtitles. While it lacks the extras this is a cool, budget-minded and region-free alternative for those who don't want to splurge on the Criterion release, which is region-A locked as I recall.
