“The field is covered in blood,” he whimpers, and we see that, sure enough, blood is everywhere. A young, fearful rabbit named Fiver has been having troubling visions of impending doom. Both movies deserve to be seen and cherished, but The Plague Dogs needs your attention more urgently: It has languished in obscurity long enough.Ī fable of fettered souls yearning for freedom, Watership Down has long been burdened with sociopolitical meaning that Adams himself never intended (or so he has said). However, while most people are familiar with Watership Down - if you haven’t read the book, you’ve probably caught the movie on video or TV - almost no one outside Adams die-hards and animation buffs has even heard of The Plague Dogs. At least two noted British actors lend their voices to both - John Hurt and Nigel Hawthorne. Both contain some of the finest detail you’ll ever see in an animated feature. Both come from the same filmmaking team: writer-director Martin Rosen, animation director Tony Guy. Both are based on novels by Richard Adams, who is basically in the same boat with Anthony Burgess: British author of many novels, forever identified with only one. The two movies are proper companion pieces for several reasons. The same is also true of 1982’s The Plague Dogs, which is, if anything, even more grim than Watership Down. Kid stuff? Don’t bet on it.Īs many fans know, 1978’s Watership Down is not only not a kiddie movie, it boasts a good deal more maturity and depth than most live-action movies for adults. Two animated films about talking rabbits and talking dogs.

The plague dogs book review