Spot on - it's one of the greatest adventure stories ever written about leadership, heroism, self-sacrifice & battling against tyranny. The fact that it features bunny rabbits makes it truly unique.
This makes me admire del Toro more than I already did. I've loved Watership Down ever since I saw it during it's initial release. A very moving film with one of my all-time favorite scores. I really like The Plague Dogs, too.
Watership Down is in my top 3 novels of all time. The ending of the book was so emotional, and written in such poetic pose, that I still draw back to it every now and again just to capture that same feeling. Love to hear others singing its praises too!
I remember finishing this book when I was something like 11 years old, in a car, family had gone into a shop ir something at the time and I started weeping when I finished it. The magic of this book is utterly spellbinding. It thought me so much and I know I can grab that book again and feel like a kid again reading it for the first time with a whole new perspective.
I saw Watership Down when I was VERY young, and I remember not understanding much of it, but the imagery stayed with me. When I was around 9 or 10, I picked it up again and I was pleased to finally see an animated movie that didn't talk down to me or insult my intelligence. I was not "traumatized" as some people apparently were, and I don't think there is anything wrong with the film. It's still one of my favourite stories for all the reasons described in this video. I read the book as an adult and found the movie to be a fair summary. Hazel-Rah!
I am forty two and saw Watership Down on television I would probably say when I was around ten years old. It really had a profound effect on how I viewed the world and mortality.
+NY Mogul Well said. It's one of those films that can leave a vivid impression on you. TCM just showed it this past Friday before Easter. I got to re-live those memories all over again, and even saw a few things I missed the first time I saw it way back when. After doing a bit of research, I found out one of the voice actors in that film later went on to play the butler in that Eddie Murphy / Dan Akroyd film Trading Places.
I watched this film for the first time when I was around 5 or 6 years old, I remember being totally terrified out of my mind, like hiding under a blanket terrified, of Fiver's vision scene with the bloody field, and even the opening animation sequence. It had such a major impact on me, it was pretty eye opening for a kid that hadn't really considered death before, and it stuck with me. I just kept going back to it though, I'd watch it like once a year for the rest of my childhood, still being scared out of my mind, and now I share it with everyone I can. It's just a brilliant film, the pacing, the characters, the soundtrack, I'm really weirdly attached to it. The music still gives me shivers.
I think I was about ten or maybe twelve the first time I saw it back in early eighties and it had me transfixed from beginning to end. Must watch it again soon.
If I could only see del Toro's interpretation of Wtaership Down , you could shoot me in the head afterward because no movie could possibly be better than that.
It sounds as if he would not consider another interpretation necessary from the full video this is taken from - his admiration of the work on the film is clear and very eloquent, especially in its influence on his mind as a young person and future filmmaker.
This is so refreshing to hear. I admit as a child I was kind of scared of the movie but also deeply interested in it as well. Over the years this film has become one of my all time favourites and deservedly so, because it´s such a masterpiece. This why I´ve decided to write my masters thesis in filmstudies about this film (and it´s two other adaptions as well, but mostly the film), because so few has been said and especially written about it that it´s really just kind of sad. No hate on Animal Farm (which is also brilliant), but Watership Down deserves more attention.
Thoughts No One Asked For What’s also sad is that Art Spieglman himself said in the intro of Maus 2 that he was offered numerous times to have his work animated but he turned them down because he didn’t want them to be adapted.
Has anybody heard of "The Thief and the Cobbler"??????? I recently found about this amazingly animated film and after reading its history (around 25 years in process of filmmaking), it seems a film worthy if preservation. Please, any film fanatic out there, search this film. I think criterion would be perfect for its restoration.
+Angel Emilio Villegas Sanchez Don"t worry, The Thief and the Cobble is a very well known film among movie critics and fanatics. Sadly undervalued in mainstream society though.
lol i saw this movie when i was 6... i loved it because what del toro said it was raw and real. i had not seen anything like it before. still have the vhs!
Those scars carved in your youth, and particularly adolescence when you're more alive than you'll ever be, cannot be erased or removed, they stay with you forever, and one of those for me is watership down. Brutal, brutal stuff, but necessary. Middle-upper class Kids grow up in such a sheltered world that doesnt prepare them for the cruelty and rawness of life. Later you learn that this cruelty, mortality and temporality of all things, is what makes life something incredible and worth living but to appreciate life for what it is you need to see the bad and the good from an early age, I dont believe protecting your children from all evil is a good idea.
I saw this film when I was 8 ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED ME. And now I'm 16, I Always been a big fan of Watership Down and I'm not excited for the CGI Watership Down Reboot.........Anyway THANK YOU CRITERION COLLECTION, I KNEW SOMEDAY YOU GUYS WOULD RELEASE THIS BEAUTIFUL PIECE. (Not Counting last years digital release)
+Christian Deleon I never liked CGI. It lacks the warmth and personality of hand-drawn animation. That said, there's a certain charm regarding the animation in the original movie, and it really helps develop the characters and carry the plot along. To reboot it in CGI is basically cinematic sacrilege to me.
@@6672rock There are many different styles to make CGI with, especially now that major packages support versatile "toon" rendering shaders which can potentially give a much more drawn cel appearance that regular CG - and extra software can impart further stylisation on top of that with new AI algorithms that can impart style from a famous painting onto an image, there are potentially limitless ways to customise an CGI animation as long as you are willing to go off the beaten path and experiment a bit, and all the best CG short films do manage to.
When is there going to be a new 35mm print struck in the UK so we can see it in all it's former beauty. The USA have got one and it's an English film so we should have it before them!!
Reading it right now, I'm inclined to agree. The themes of man and God are a fascinating topic that no one wants to address anymore, and so far, I feel like the book has a very interesting take. It is rather wordy on the exposition, so you'd need a really good writer in order to translate it as well. One thing though, they need to use a real bear. I've seen it done, and you really can't top a real animals physical presence.
When I was 5 my mother decided this was my favourite film, and would put it on and leave me with it whilst she went off and did other things. Horrible experience, really didn't like it.
Spot on - it's one of the greatest adventure stories ever written about leadership, heroism, self-sacrifice & battling against tyranny. The fact that it features bunny rabbits makes it truly unique.
It's an amazing film, and the book is a work of pure genius.
I concur.
This makes me admire del Toro more than I already did. I've loved Watership Down ever since I saw it during it's initial release. A very moving film with one of my all-time favorite scores. I really like The Plague Dogs, too.
Maxruehl, I love the score too... So beautiful and so underrated!
Watership Down is in my top 3 novels of all time. The ending of the book was so emotional, and written in such poetic pose, that I still draw back to it every now and again just to capture that same feeling. Love to hear others singing its praises too!
I remember finishing this book when I was something like 11 years old, in a car, family had gone into a shop ir something at the time and I started weeping when I finished it. The magic of this book is utterly spellbinding. It thought me so much and I know I can grab that book again and feel like a kid again reading it for the first time with a whole new perspective.
Guillermo del Toro should make his own adaptation of Watership Down.
I wish more people would read the book. The movie can only show so much!
Watership Down is also one of Stephen Kings favorite books.
I saw Watership Down when I was VERY young, and I remember not understanding much of it, but the imagery stayed with me. When I was around 9 or 10, I picked it up again and I was pleased to finally see an animated movie that didn't talk down to me or insult my intelligence. I was not "traumatized" as some people apparently were, and I don't think there is anything wrong with the film. It's still one of my favourite stories for all the reasons described in this video. I read the book as an adult and found the movie to be a fair summary. Hazel-Rah!
I am forty two and saw Watership Down on television I would probably say when I was around ten years old. It really had a profound effect on how I viewed the world and mortality.
NY Mogul Agreed, it is the perefect film to teach kid's.
Debra Stelton to this day it's still difficult to watch the scene when Hazel dies.
+NY Mogul Well said. It's one of those films that can leave a vivid impression on you. TCM just showed it this past Friday before Easter. I got to re-live those memories all over again, and even saw a few things I missed the first time I saw it way back when. After doing a bit of research, I found out one of the voice actors in that film later went on to play the butler in that Eddie Murphy / Dan Akroyd film Trading Places.
I could listen to Del Toro (as well as Herzog) talk about film, literature, life, for hours on end. Can't wait to get this release.
Alot of what he said is why Watership Down is one of my favorite books of all time.
My favorite movie of all time.
I watched this film for the first time when I was around 5 or 6 years old, I remember being totally terrified out of my mind, like hiding under a blanket terrified, of Fiver's vision scene with the bloody field, and even the opening animation sequence. It had such a major impact on me, it was pretty eye opening for a kid that hadn't really considered death before, and it stuck with me. I just kept going back to it though, I'd watch it like once a year for the rest of my childhood, still being scared out of my mind, and now I share it with everyone I can. It's just a brilliant film, the pacing, the characters, the soundtrack, I'm really weirdly attached to it. The music still gives me shivers.
More animation from Criterion, please!
Satoshi Kon's stuff would be nice.
Zerudah That would be very nice.
+Zerudah A Satoshi Kon Collection would be nice.
I think I was about ten or maybe twelve the first time I saw it back in early eighties and it had me transfixed from beginning to end. Must watch it again soon.
Both the book and the movie are pure works of art, the music is so beautiful i still remember the gorgeous double bass when i see a landscape
*RIP John Hunt*
Kane from Alien
Voice of Hazel '78
Professor broom of Hellboy 1 & 2
And snitter from the plauge dogs
And the Elephant man...and then Kane again in Spaceballs!
Garrick Ollivander of the Harry Potter movies as well.
I was born in 1986 and I’m just now finding out about this movie. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a new to me old movie that’s amazing.
If I could only see del Toro's interpretation of Wtaership Down , you could shoot me in the head afterward because no movie could possibly be better than that.
It sounds as if he would not consider another interpretation necessary from the full video this is taken from - his admiration of the work on the film is clear and very eloquent, especially in its influence on his mind as a young person and future filmmaker.
For a film that was released in the late 70s, this movie's got balls.
Why, I'd be more surprised by them releasing a film like that today, than by it being released in the anarchistic and not yet tamed 70s.
+Anna Marianne
Good point.
Ironically, the 70's were the greatest period for risk-taking movies with balls.
Weird comment.. like have you heard of Bakshi??
@@professionalhater9 bakshi didn't make kids films though.
I remember watching it has a kid ,the first time i cryed my eyes out when the rabbit died and he was chasing his ghost , such an amazing story .
This is so refreshing to hear. I admit as a child I was kind of scared of the movie but also deeply interested in it as well. Over the years this film has become one of my all time favourites and deservedly so, because it´s such a masterpiece. This why I´ve decided to write my masters thesis in filmstudies about this film (and it´s two other adaptions as well, but mostly the film), because so few has been said and especially written about it that it´s really just kind of sad. No hate on Animal Farm (which is also brilliant), but Watership Down deserves more attention.
I luv Guillermo
This makes more sense with the eve Pinoccio's release.
One of the greatest Animated films ever made!
Del Toro really should make his own version of Watership Down, but with an independent studio - No more Warner Bros.
Who thinks Guillermo del Toro should direct a movie adaptation of Maus?
No, he shouldn't.
I'm surprised there hasn't been one
Thoughts No One Asked For What’s also sad is that Art Spieglman himself said in the intro of Maus 2 that he was offered numerous times to have his work animated but he turned them down because he didn’t want them to be adapted.
I just want SOMETHING Guillermo del Toro tries to make to come out. It seems like so many of his projects get taken away from him
@@patrickc1193 he was distraught at execetives taking his work and trying to make more money than was necessary
Has anybody heard of "The Thief and the Cobbler"??????? I recently found about this amazingly animated film and after reading its history (around 25 years in process of filmmaking), it seems a film worthy if preservation. Please, any film fanatic out there, search this film. I think criterion would be perfect for its restoration.
+Angel Emilio Villegas Sanchez Don"t worry, The Thief and the Cobble is a very well known film among movie critics and fanatics. Sadly undervalued in mainstream society though.
It is something of a lost masterpiece of animation, and a monument of wasted production. It is quite known in some circles.
Vincent Shizannie For that I blame Miramax.
I watched and read this far younger than I should have- and I’m really glad. It made me do a lot of thinking
Makes me want to read the book I’ve only ever seen the animated film 🍿
Wow! Thank you for this.
spectacular film!
lol i saw this movie when i was 6... i loved it because what del toro said it was raw and real. i had not seen anything like it before. still have the vhs!
Those scars carved in your youth, and particularly adolescence when you're more alive than you'll ever be, cannot be erased or removed, they stay with you forever, and one of those for me is watership down. Brutal, brutal stuff, but necessary. Middle-upper class Kids grow up in such a sheltered world that doesnt prepare them for the cruelty and rawness of life. Later you learn that this cruelty, mortality and temporality of all things, is what makes life something incredible and worth living but to appreciate life for what it is you need to see the bad and the good from an early age, I dont believe protecting your children from all evil is a good idea.
I agree!
juan altredo me to watched it age 7 changed my life
Water ship down is a real place in the UK
I saw this film when I was 8 ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED ME. And now I'm 16, I Always been a big fan of Watership Down and I'm not excited for the CGI Watership Down Reboot.........Anyway THANK YOU CRITERION COLLECTION, I KNEW SOMEDAY YOU GUYS WOULD RELEASE THIS BEAUTIFUL PIECE. (Not Counting last years digital release)
+Christian Deleon I never liked CGI. It lacks the warmth and personality of hand-drawn animation. That said, there's a certain charm regarding the animation in the original movie, and it really helps develop the characters and carry the plot along. To reboot it in CGI is basically cinematic sacrilege to me.
CGI?, I trust very few people getting CGI done well I am not sold on the idea really. Specially for a classic story like this one.
@@6672rock There are many different styles to make CGI with, especially now that major packages support versatile "toon" rendering shaders which can potentially give a much more drawn cel appearance that regular CG - and extra software can impart further stylisation on top of that with new AI algorithms that can impart style from a famous painting onto an image, there are potentially limitless ways to customise an CGI animation as long as you are willing to go off the beaten path and experiment a bit, and all the best CG short films do manage to.
Goddamn! Gotta love this guy!!!
I watched this at the cinema on its release. I was 8.
Ugh the Plague Dogs traumatized me and broke my heart in a million pieces.
I just watched pans labyrinth last night
Amazing movie.
i love this movie
The all time ultimate childhood destroyer that is watership down
When is there going to be a new 35mm print struck in the UK so we can see it in all it's former beauty. The USA have got one and it's an English film so we should have it before them!!
Plague Dogs, Plague Dogs, Plague Dogs!!!
Kind of makes me wonder why Shardik was never made into a movie.
Reading it right now, I'm inclined to agree. The themes of man and God are a fascinating topic that no one wants to address anymore, and so far, I feel like the book has a very interesting take. It is rather wordy on the exposition, so you'd need a really good writer in order to translate it as well.
One thing though, they need to use a real bear. I've seen it done, and you really can't top a real animals physical presence.
Excellent
I wish plauge dogs was remake.
It be nice if Alan wood have survived the accident just like in the book.
I was around 15 when I saw it. It destroyed me.
In many ways, Watership Down is even better than The Lord of the Rings.
If you're talking about Bakshi's, then yeah, it's no contest. But both books are lions of classic literature.
Watership Down the movie is fear itself.
I was like 8 or 9 when I watched this film I was totally traumatized watching this film
Please release Plague Dogs!
+Raquel Hendriksen that's a good idea.
3V1L5H0073R they really should though, on Criterion or something!
What name did he say at 1:03 when he talked about engravings? sounds like Gran Bill
"Grandville" - see Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard Grandville on Wikipedia.
Do you know rabbit in my channel picture?
Will this be on the extra features of the blu-ray release?
Yes, it is. It's a great supplement.
Is it the U.S. release by Avco Embassy Pictures? Or is it the UK release? On the restoration of the apapted feature.
Criterion's release
Silent Film Saturday Which one? The U.S. Avco Embassy Pictures release? Or the Warner Home Video previous DVD release?
The Criterion blu-ray that came out on 2/24/2015
Gillermo del Toro...pongo 20 para que haga la pelicula de Kaliman, El Super Heroe Mexicano, y lleve como protagonista a Henry Cavill...
I was waaay younger lol
Wait, was I meant to watch this as a teenager? I must have been 5/6 when my parents put this on... 😅😅😅
They're making a realistic cgi Netflix drama of watership down
Leah Milne yeah late 2018 with a great cast
REALISTIC? HaHaHaHa
How about sticking a video of Martin Rosen the director talking about it, rather than someone who have nothing to do with it?
That is an extra on the blu-Ray/DVD.
He made a few good flicks before moving on to Hollywood shit
What do you think of his Spanish films?
When I was 5 my mother decided this was my favourite film, and would put it on and leave me with it whilst she went off and did other things. Horrible experience, really didn't like it.
WHY ARE THEY KILLING CRAZY AND GOING SAVEG THEY ARE JUST CUTE LITTLE BUNNYS!!!!
I actually can't believe this was a film it is actually horrible
Katie Ayrton You seem shallow
Katie Ayrton. Are you serious?
Bro is a w