Watership Down (2018)

Name: Watership Down (2018)
Genre: Animation, Drama, Movie/Mini-Series
Released: December 23, 2018
Rating: 76

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Generally favorable reviews based on 5 Critic Reviews

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7.8

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7.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 5 Ratings

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Series Details & Credits

Netflix | Release Date: December 23, 2018

Summary: The BBC four-part adaptation of the Richard Adams novel about a group of rabbits in Sandleford Warren who seek a new home when Fiver (Nicholas Hoult) has a vision of the destruction of their home there.

Genre(s): Animation, Drama, Movie/Mini-Series

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Critic Reviews

100

John Anderson

Dec 20, 2018

Season 1 Review: It is rigorously intelligent, absolutely thrilling, and--unless the kids are about 17--definitely not for children. ... One of its virtues is its fidelity to the source material—dark, filled with dread, marked by stinging indictments of fascism, fundamentalism and cruelty. Being so true to itself, it’s utterly absorbing--once you get past the fact that the principal characters are rabbits. ... All the performances are convincing. Read full review

Ben Travers

Dec 20, 2018

Season 1 Review: Despite cheap computer-animation, director Noam Murro (“300: Rise of an Empire”) and writer Tom Bidwell (“My Mad Fat Diary”) evoke a strong sense of empathy for the animals while crafting a stirring limited series built on big, frightening themes of life and death along with more humble thoughts on love, friendship, and socialism. Read full review

Tim Goodman

Dec 14, 2018

Season 1 Review: Allowing for the sweetness in Adams' original work to come out in this modern take is part of what makes the BBC-Netflix version of Watership Down work best. The conversations and character development of the rabbits are the bricks that build the story. And while the animation is at first a downside--seemingly retro, too saturated with brown and black tones, making many of the rabbits indistinguishable from one another--that limitation allows the voice work to shine, which of course relies heavily on Adams' lovely descriptions. Read full review

James Poniewozik

Dec 20, 2018

Season 1 Review: Emotional but blandified adaptation. ... If the Netflix Watership Down fails its potential, it benefits from strong voice performances (Boyega is expressive as the bluff but loyal Bigwig) and a solid central story. Even this easy-listening version, which lays on the romance, jokes and limp dialogue (“They may not have wanted a war, but by Frith, that’s what they’ll get”), has moments of grandeur and the sweep of a fantasy epic. Read full review

Dave Trumbore

Dec 21, 2018

Season 1 Review: Luckily, the story is so good that it shines above the shoddy animation, but the 1978 adaptation is still a better bet and the original story itself is still the best. Give this one a watch only if you can stomach the visuals and the visceral material. Read full review

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User Reviews

Firewing2

Aug 27, 2020

Just really bad. I give it 4/10 only because the animation wasn't terrible, but as an adaptation of a beloved piece of literature or as a story in its own right, it's extraordinarily disappointing. As someone who loved the original book, my impression is that this was created by people whoJust really bad. I give it 4/10 only because the animation wasn't terrible, but as an adaptation of a beloved piece of literature or as a story in its own right, it's extraordinarily disappointing. As someone who loved the original book, my impression is that this was created by people who had no affection for or understanding of the source material. It's not just that the content is abridged; the core of the story is gutted because it would be difficult to adapt the introspective journey full of personal growth. Instead whole sections are added to ham-fistedly heighten drama. Characters are totally changed in the name of creating melodrama where none existed in the book. Where the book all about the journey and the day to day life of rabbits in a unique world with a distinctly non-human perspective, the series is clearly bored with the all that business of living so it chooses to add action sequences that serve no purpose and convert subtle, sensible characters into a collection of cliches. I wouldn't be so offended if they had kept the same tone or purpose of the story, but I wonder if the writers of this even read the book? It's also got to be the worst case of "tell don't show" I've ever seen. The complete absence of any visual story-telling and the brutish dialog made me cringe.… Expand

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Seasons & Episodes

76

Series Overview
Season 1

76
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: December 23, 2018
- No episode information is currently available for this season