John Hurt became reknown for playing a number of great roles in the 70s from Caligula in I Claudius to a prisoner in Midnight Express. Even a smaller role, like Kane in Alien made him famous to fans of science fiction. It's therefore quite surprising to find that around the same time, he voiced a cartoon rabbit called Hazel in this animated adaption of Richard Adams' Watership Down.
Hazel is the leader a group of rabbits attempting to flee from their warren after one of their kind, Fiver, has a premonition of the warren being torn down by humans. These rabbits, including the fighter Bigwig, attempt to find a new and better hovel on a hill.
The book contains some of the nice worldbuilding from Richard Adams' book. The rabbits worship 'Frith' and the black rabbit is the vision of death.Their warren has ranks including the Ossler, the police of the group.
Don't let the fact that this is a cartoon fool you as this is definitely not a film for very young children. This film shows the harsh reality for the rabbits attempting to survive in the wild countryside. As the rabbits search for a new home, they face snares, gun wielding farmers, vicious dogs, and an aggressive rabbit warren whose members, under the control of General Woundwort, will go as far to tear a traitor's ears off. Some of the rabbits become traumatized by the threats facing them. I admire the fact that this film doesn't sugar coat the harsh realities that animals must face.
The voice actors are all good, playing the rabbits in their normal voices instead of giving them hitch pitched or silly voices because it is a cartoon. There are a number of famous British actors here, including Richard Briers as Fiver, and Roy Kinnear as Pipkin.
The soundtrack, provided by Art Garfunkel, including the infamous 'Bright Eyes'.
Even if you are not a fan of animation, I would say that this film is well worth watching for one afternoon. A very good achievement.
9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment