The title summarizes the problem with this retelling of Richard Adams' beloved classic. The hand-drawn animation of the original 1978 film was vivid and colorful, the music ("Bright Eyes," "Keehar's Theme") was haunting, and the rabbits were easy to distinguish with clear visual trademarks.
"Watership Down" (2018) fails on all these counts. The landscapes are serviceable, but the movement of the rabbits is inexplicably crude like a hobbling animatronic toy. The music, while not intrusive, is hardly inspiring. And the rabbits are all so similar in appearance that it is hard to distinguish them as individuals. And if it is hard to distinguish them, it is that much harder to identify with them, or to care about their story.
To compound matters, the pacing of this 4 hour miniseries sags at several points, leaving one to pine for the taut pacing of the original feature length film.
All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies ... and chief among them is an insipid Netflix reboot of your glorious tale.
"Watership Down" (2018) fails on all these counts. The landscapes are serviceable, but the movement of the rabbits is inexplicably crude like a hobbling animatronic toy. The music, while not intrusive, is hardly inspiring. And the rabbits are all so similar in appearance that it is hard to distinguish them as individuals. And if it is hard to distinguish them, it is that much harder to identify with them, or to care about their story.
To compound matters, the pacing of this 4 hour miniseries sags at several points, leaving one to pine for the taut pacing of the original feature length film.
All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies ... and chief among them is an insipid Netflix reboot of your glorious tale.