Childhood trauma

There was a movie I saw when I was a kid that put in deep emotional scars. Because despite being an animated movie, this is in no way a movie for kids. I'm speaking of the rabbit epic: Watership Down.

I did read the book a while ago, but saw the movie when I was a kid, and whenever I heard "Bright Eyes", oh the emotions. And yet...

This is about a group of rabbits that sense that danger (of encroaching development of man) is coming, and so need to find a new place for a warren. As they cross the land, they encounter various dangers from other creatures, and also from other rabbits. While they do find an ideal spot, there is still much work to set up actual rabbit families, and the locals aren't interesting in giving up their does.

This is a lot better than I remember. Despite the dark (and it gets INCREDIBLY dark, especially the opening!), there are less rabbit deaths than I remember, and even the song is more bittersweet and happy than what I recall.

If you plan on showing this to your kids, first of all why would you? Secondly, don't let them watch it alone (which I did). And do watch it before the kids do so you can help them get through the harder moments.

Because this is a good movie to watch.

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