to think that anyone moaning about Watership Down....

[Ohbehave1]

...... Should have simply switched the bloody TV off.

Nobody really complained though.

If you read the tweets, they're just cracking jokes about it possibly traumatising kids.

Papers run with it cos it's a lazy silly story and everybody secretly loves imagining themselves to be terribly superior to all these "think of the children!" Helen Lovejoy types.

I remember being really upset by the hawk scene. I'm not really sure who the film is aimed at, but it's certainly not suitable for very young children.

mumoseven

DD saw a trailer with cute bunnies and DH said"Oh, we will need to watch that", at which point I asked him if he had ever actually seen it? DD is 8 but would definitely have nightmares if she had watched it. I remember being pretty traumatised by the sheer violence when I first saw it at her age. It's definitely more PG than U

The bit in the book that makes me cry is where Hazel realises that "the hopelessness of their chances had no important place in (Bigwig's) thoughts. Even the sound of the digging, clearer already, only set him thinking of the best way to sell his life as dearly as he could" and Bigwig goes on to defend the warren against Woundwort till he is exhausted, bloodied and half dead. Woundwort tries to cajole him out with an offer of a high position back at Efrafa but Bigwig realises that his dead body will slow the Efrafans up and stays put. He's my favourite character and such a hero!

I saw it as a child (can't remember how old) and probably wouldn't put it on for a young child. Never read the book so can't comment.

I've also read one of Adams' other books "Maia", which I thoroughly enjoyed - anyone else read that? I found it in a box of my deceased bf's things his mum had packed away and kept. Read it with the motivation of trying to know him after he'd gone, stay connected by reading the things he'd read. Wish we'd had the time to talk about it, read it and other things together before he'd gone. Sorry for going off topic a little bit. Sometimes it catches you by surprise, the things that make you remember, an unconnected movie for instance.

The book is £1.19 on kindle if anyone is interested.

mumoseven

I saw this as a kid when it was on one Easter back in the 80s and bawled my eyes out when he dies at the end and goes to bunny heaven and you see all the rabbit ghosts flying about I bawled for hours afterwards. Still cant listen to Bright Eyes without a lump in my throat. Feeling teary thinking about it now. Wasnt Richard Briers the voice of Fiver?

My DB videoed it when it was on again a few years later and hes kept his old tapes so still has it somewhere.

i had a rabbit as a kid too.

Yanbu parents should read up and not assume ( but really qhere have people been? This film is older than me and i know it's a film that would make me howl).

Shouldn't be on on a sunday?
Sundays are for us mere adults also you know, not just for kids.....
You have the option to just turn the tv over.

Gileswithachainsaw i still cry now at parts of animals of farthing wood

noddingoff your post has brought back all the memories of this film. Havent actually seen it since the late 80s. DB taped it the second time we saw it. My parents didnt get a video recorder until Christmas 1986.

Glad im not the only one kali

On a cheerier note our bunnys hutch was still proudly standing after the October hurricane of 1987.

I haven't watched it since I was about 3 and my dm left me to watch the film about the rabbits that was on tv. The horror...

My friend and I used to be obsessed with this film, when we were really young, probably from about five years old? Didn't do us any harm! (We were growing up in the countryside, with loads of animals, so used to seeing the odd rabbit corpse!) The novel is my favourite book - read that when I was seven or eight, I think.
There is a serialisation, actually aimed at younger children, which my dd, who is three, has watched and really enjoyed. It's ok, and quite close to the original text, and the film, in parts, but less bloody (and a few annoying new characters). Some parts they actually make more scary, though - for example they seem to develop Cowslip's character in much more painstaking detail than in the original film, so his psychopathy, or whatever you would call it, becomes really evident. My dd refused to watch that episode more than once!

I can't handle it. I saw it as a child and ever since then I have always turned over when it's come on . That scene where the field turns to blood. No no no no. My mum let me watch it and she'd read the book. I was probably about 5.
Bambi and the Animals of Farthing Wood, I can't handle those either, but they're not as bad.

I had a rabbit too. He belonged to my playgroup but they gave him to my mum because he was a biter, but he never bit me.

We ate our pet rabbit.

That's messed up!

I love this story but haven't let !y dc watch the film yet

If you were not bought up in the UK then you would have no idea about how scarey the film is. I work with people from all over the world and every so often they will mention recording water ship down for a daughter who loves rabbits. I always tell them the plot and they are shocked

I loved The Secret of NIMH, too. If you thought Bigwig was a hero, Justin's bravery and sacrifice to save the gassed rats is equally tear-jerking.
And I hate rats!

I think the main problem with this film is that it is a U which implies that there is no real need to check or pre screen the film before viewing, particularly given that it is, on the face of it, a cartoon about fluffy bunnies.

A 12 rating would be better, certainly atleast a PG.

I totally agree, YANBU...it's an easy thing to do, just turn the frigging channel over! WTAF is the problem here???
Anyway it's an awesome film, do these people moan when Bambi is shown?

My first crush was Justin from the Secret of NIMH. And I'm not ashamed :o

My only memory of the film , which I saw when very young is a feeling of vague trauma. I read the book when I was 10-11 and THAT is still very vivid. I missed the film the other day but must rewatch/reread but definitely won't be involving my 4yr old.

Speaking of sad films, I randomly watched a live action film on tv featuring elephants a few years ago. I wish I knew what it was called, the young elephant loses his mother and a childless non-maternal elephant looks after him and ends up risking everything for him. Any ideas? I wasn't prepared for an emotional battering, it messed me up that film did.

GeekGoddess, Whispers: An Elephant's Tale?

Ah, thanks Catzpyjamas, I think that's it. It caught me on the wrong day I think, though I'll hesitate to watch it again test that theory.

I understand the film was only given U rating because the board of film censors didn't bother to watch the film and just assumed a cartoon about bunnies couldn't be a problem.