New Watership, old nightmares

It was the movie that traumatised a generation. First released in 1978, the animated adaptation of Richard Adams’ 1972 leporidae tale Watership

left many young viewers in tears and not just because of Art Garfunkel’s treacly theme tune

Bright Eyes.

Rather it was graphic imagery of cute coney carnage and a barrage of bad bunny behaviour that gave many sleepless nights and inspired vows never to let game pie pass their lips.

Now, three decades on, the BBC and Netflix have doubled down to terrify an entirely new audience with a

Down

new four-part, four-hour adaptation (screening now on the latter global streaming service).

As with Sir Peter Jackson ‘‘reimagining’’ Ralph Bakshi’s animated take on Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (released the same year as the cinematic this allows the creators to flesh out the story in more detail and, crucially, create cliffhangers out of some of the more harrowing action.

Like the book and the movie, this Watership Down focuses on the fluffy-tailed residents of Sandleford.

While there has been the occasional complaint of ‘‘too many rabbits, too little good

Down),

food’’, life is generally good for those in the warren.

However, lately one of their number has been haunted by apocalyptic visions of fields filled with blood. The fatalistic Fiver (Nicholas Hoult) is convinced they need to leave and persuades best mate Hazel (James McAvoy) to lead a party to pastures new. They soon discover, though, that life on or near the road is potentially even more dangerous.

Within their first day they are ‘‘chased, clawed, bitten and near drowned’’, before seemingly finding salvation with the welcoming Cowslip (Rory Kinnear) and company.

But even as they enjoy the on-tap greens and spacious tunnels, Five has a bad feeling about their new surroundings and hosts. While the extended running-time does slightly (and perhaps thankfully) dilute the intense drama, watching Watership Down still comes with a caution that there will be blood, death and tears before bedtime (even a mere glimpse of the Sir Ben Kingsley-voiced General Woundwort at the end of episode one is enough to send you scurrying for the back of the nearest sofa).

Thirty years of animation advances obviously up the realism and fur factor, although strangely these rabbits seem more alien than the distinctly flat originals.

Likewise, while the vocal cast is ridiculously impressive (there’s also Gemma Arterton, Olivia Colman, John Boyega, Peter Capaldi, Tom Wilkinson and Taron Egerton), it all sounds and feels like they are performing a radio play, such is the strange slight disconnect between sound and visuals.

That said, though, 300: Rise of an Empire director Noam Murro’s direction still manages to elicit more than a few genuine jumps and even a syrupy Sam Smith theme tune can’t rob Adams’ original story of its nightmarish power. – James Croot