It is one of the best-loved children’s animated films to come out of the UK – and spawned a hit single – Art Garfunkel’s BRIGHT EYES. The beautiful rendition hit the top spot in the UK pop charts and the scenes that accompanied the film actually made Martin Rosen’s animated adaptation of Richard Adams’ book WATERSHIP DOWN a more tempting family film.
However, its’ deep themes of death and conflict and a circle of life that was in there long before Simba went through a similar rites-of-passage in THE LION KING proved to be a very challenging film for kids of the 1970s like myself who were genuinely shocked by what they saw, particularly during the climax.
A bunch of rabbits (with voices from the cream of British acting talent, including the late John Hurt and Harry Andrews amongst them) have to flee their warren as the land is up for development. A few get away, but the challenges don’t end there, particularly when later on they encounter an evil salivating head rabbit called General Woundwort (voiced by Andrews)
It’s not the sort of film I would recommend very young children watch and it was recently remade as a two-part CGI version for BBC. Still, its’ power remains as consistent as it was over four decades before. Older kids will find it fascinating.