Did anyone see the remake of Watership Down on BBC 1 last night?

[Mr Allen]

Topic.

I might see if it's on I-player, but does anyone have any reviews? Don't post spoilers though, not even in spoiler tags.

 

[Progster]

I read the book when I was a child, and have also seen the 1978 animated movie. Definitely not a kids' movie, though, given the underlying violence and metaphors on adult themes. The sound track, sung by Art Garfunkle, seems so sweet, harmonious and pleasant when out of the context of the movie. Haven't seen this new version yet.

 

[AGXStarseed]

Not a fan of this remake, personally.
The CGI isn't anywhere near as good as the animation of the original (some people even complained that the Rabbits looked more like Hares), trying to make it 'tamer' so it can be shown on TV weakened it in my opinion and the replacement of "Bright Eyes" with a new song by Sam Smith bugged me.

 

[Mr Allen]

@Progster, yeah Bright Eyes is one of my fave songs ever.

 

[Mia]

Read the book as a teen. It was so different, written from an unusual point of view and it may have been one of the first of it's type. Haven't ever forgotten it. Believe I saw the animated movie in the 1970's.

 

[Bolletje]

I don't want to watch the remake, the original is such a treasured memory for me and I don't want to see it defiled.

 

[Aeolienne]

I haven't read the book or seen the earlier film, but IIRC the blurb says that it's about rabbits escaping a housing development. Because of that I was expecting it to be focused on the theme of humans vs nature, but instead it was mostly about rabbits fighting each other.

I found it a bit hard to tell the different rabbit characters apart, plus I found it confusing that two male characters had female names (Hazel and Holly).

Richard Adams is said to have consulted a scholarly tome, The Private Life of the Rabbit by R M Lockley. However according to this 1974 feminist critique, Lockley's book paints a picture of rabbit society as matriarchal, not male-dominated.
Male Chauvinist Rabbits

BTW, what do the lyrics of Bright Eyes have to do with the plot? I'd assumed they were a reference to myxomatosis.

 

[AGXStarseed]

I haven't read the book or seen the earlier film, but IIRC the blurb says that it's about rabbits escaping a housing development. Because of that I was expecting it to be focused on the theme of humans vs nature, but instead it was mostly about rabbits fighting each other.

I found it a bit hard to tell the different rabbit characters apart, plus I found it confusing that two male characters had female names (Hazel and Holly).

Richard Adams is said to have consulted a scholarly tome, The Private Life of the Rabbit by R M Lockley. However according to this 1974 feminist critique, Lockley's book paints a picture of rabbit society as matriarchal, not male-dominated.
Male Chauvinist Rabbits

BTW, what do the lyrics of Bright Eyes have to do with the plot? I'd assumed they were a reference to myxomatosis.

The earlier film is much better in my opinion. Furthermore, You could tell the rabbits apart a lot easier as each had a fairly recognizable colour scheme and build.

In regards to rabbit hierarchy, I found this article from the website 'House Rabbit Society', which declares the following: "In wild warrens, the “chief” rabbit is generally male. In domestic groups, the dominant rabbit is often female." (Source: Group Living | House Rabbit Society)
As such, this fits with the story as almost all the rabbits (barring the domestic rabbits on the farm) are wild and all led by a male 'chief' rabbit - the Watership Down rabbits been led firstly by an unknown chief and later by Hazel, the Cowslip/Warren of the Shining Wires rabbits been led by Cowslip and the Efrafa rabbits been led by General Woundwort.

As for the song (spoiler alert), it plays during the original film after Hazel has been shot by the farmer and is near-death due to been badly wounded. The other rabbits assume he's died, but Fiver - Hazel's younger brother who has psychic visions and was the reason the rabbits fled their original home - has a vision of the 'Black Rabbit of Inlé' and realizes that Hazel isn't dead; eventually finding him after following the Black Rabbit and successfully bringing Hazel back to the warren, where he is helped by Keehar the Seagull (who removes the bullet fragments or 'stones'), which allows Hazel to get better.

The song is basically about death - with 'bright eyes' referring to how when someone is dying, their once bright eyes full of life and vitality slowly begin to fade as their time on this world draws to its inevitable conclusion; the lyric "how can the life that burns so brightly suddenly burn so pale?" basically meaning "how can one so spirited and alive suddenly be so close to death?".
Watership Down Bright Eyes Scene

(In an additional bit of information, the author Richard Adams hated the song).