And for all the parents who took their kids to see it ...
Coincidentally (or maybe not), here's the cover of Richard Adams' very next novel after Watership Down:
It kind of makes you wonder if the whole world misinterpreted Watership Down as a cute children's book while the film better reflected the tone that Adams was going for
.
Because it was animated, had bunnies, and was very poorly marketed.
I have a soft spot for the film, even though it carries none of the charms of the book. Many I know who like the book hate the film.
The book is one of my all time favorites (and a staple of High School English classes).
It'd be really nice to have a new adaptation, one that replaces the odious first one and captures the charms of the novel. Imagine if Disney were to do a 3D-animated version. It could be challenging, but they could handle limited bunny deaths like they did Simba's father in The Lion King and make chase scenes exhilarating, rather than suspenseful and scary like the 1978 version did.
I think that there's a lot of potential to make a film that appeals to kids as a cute bunny tale and to adults as metaphor and social commentary. For example, any religious or ethnic group that's ever been oppressed and forced out of their homes to seek refuge in a new land can see themselves in the bunnies. It's particularly timely now, with the global refugee crisis. Imagine the opportunity for parents to help their kids relate to immigration issues through the analogy of the bunnies. The point is that there's potential for a film that's more than
just a cute bunny story. It's too bad if the content and reception of the 1978 version has scared off proper adaptations.
EDIT: Ah, the BBC is remaking it as 3D-animated miniseries. Thanks for that link, kdb. That's fantastic. I'm particularly thrilled that it's the BBC, so that it has a British feeling to it (since the author was British, so they were British rabbits in British gardens).