Watership Down 4K 1978 Ultra HD 2160p

Storyline
Based upon Richard Adam's novel of the same title, this animated feature delves into the surprisingly violent world of a warren of rabbits as they seek to establish a new colony free of tyranny and human intervention.

User Review
The book “Watership down” by Richard Adams was once given to me by a classmate. She liked this work very much, and it became one of my favorites, reread many times. The story of rabbits who escaped from misfortune and looking for a new home, spite of all enemies overcoming adversity, touched me to the core. In England, this novel is considered a children's classic. I confess honestly, until recently I did not even suspect the existence of the cartoon. And having accidentally stumbled upon a mention of it in one of the articles of Kinopoisk, I couldn't pass it by.

The movie begins with a rabbit legend about the origin of their family, Frith (Sun) and El-ahrairah - the resourceful, somewhat cheeky and hilarious First Rabbit. There are several legends invented by the author in the book, and they are unobtrusively embedded in the novel. In the course of the narrative in the image of Akhrayrakh from under the mask of a trickster and a fiddler looks like a truly tragic face, capable of self-sacrifice for the sake of his people. In the book, these “inserts” are appropriate (rabbits tell them to each other in the evenings) and complement, shade the characters of the heroes.

But here begins the main action - (Hazel) with his younger brother (Fiver) go out of the burrow of the town outside - to have dinner. Not far from the road, they discover a new object - a mounted board with an announcement about the sale of a plot of land. The rabbits, of course, can't read and don't understand the board's purpose, but Pyatik is convinced that it brings trouble. The brothers try to convince the Elder to start the resettlement, but, of course, he does not understand them and does not believe in bad things. Then our heroes, having gathered a small team of young rabbits, organize an escape. Later they learn about the tragic fate of the rabbit town (which was simply plowed up) and its inhabitants... Their further adventures, where they came and what happened then - you will learn from the book and the cartoon.

We learn the real life of rabbits - with teeth, claws, wounds, blood and death. It was after this book that I remembered that rabbits, unlike hares, live in burrows. And animals, like humans, are capable of friendship and sacrifice for the continuation of the species. The main characters are essentially kept a few - Nuttall, Pyatik and Shishak. Of course, also General Durman and Blackawar. Samples of the others are revealed in the book, but the cartoon's timing didn't allow for more. Loved how the characters change as the story progresses. Peanut learns to be a leader, Shishak becomes less cocky and selfish. Liked the idea of the iris color change between “our” rabbits and the “Ephrathians”. Didn't quite like the image of Kehaar - he should be much bigger and more powerful - because even the rabbits of the hostile Ephratha were afraid of him.

More recently, a 4-part cartoon with the same plot was released. Yes, technology does not stand still, rabbits there are more realistic. But this cartoon is more atmospheric, in my opinion, closer to the spirit of the original. The graphics are good (especially for the 1970s), even now, despite the glut of 3D cartoons.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (94.4 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Info Audio

#English: FLAC 2.0
#English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Commentary by Director Martin Rosen & Writer/Filmmaker Chris Gore)
#English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Commentary by Film & Animation Scholars Catherine Lester & Sam Summers)

Info Subtitles

English SDH, Danish, Finnish, German SDH, Norwegian, Swedish.