Parents' Guide to Watership Down

Richard Adams' evocative fable returns to the screen in this compelling production from BBC and Netflix. The migrant rabbits' plight is appropriately dramatic and fraught with danger to stay true to the masterful original story, and the new animation style only slightly blunts the tale's overall intensity. It's a strange dichotomy that exists between the movie's bucolic scenery and the savagery of intraspecies brutality, but it's vital to the story's impact. The mature themes for which Watership Down is known -- self-sacrifice, human-wrought devastation, dictatorial governance and blind obedience, the pervasive threat of death, emotions both high and low, and even broader allusions to historical events like the Holocaust -- are prominent throughout, making even the smallest victories in the name of liberty that much sweeter.

Watership Down never really has been a story that's appropriate for young kids, particularly when its ruthless battles and Fiver's blood-soaked dreams are brought to the screen. This interpretation is no exception, although it's slightly less graphic than the animated 1978 version. Where this rendition most goes astray is in the animation of the rabbit characters, who aren't distinguishable enough for viewers of any age to follow the dialogue and story easily. While their physical similarities reflect both reality and their all-for-one groupthink, it's distracting to spend so much time trying to decipher among so many rabbits based on very minor physical characteristics. That said, a gorgeous and powerful musical score rounds out this powerful story whose images and messages will stay with you long after its end.