Steve Reviews: Watership Down 2018 Remake vs The Original 1978 

As a traditional animator who refuses to give up her paper and pencils (and paints), I appreciate you recognizing how just making something CGI doesn't improve it. The original is one of the best animated films ever made. In re-watching it, I was stunned at the focus on all the GORGEOUS watercolor backgrounds and the intense atmosphere they create.

Watership Down is a cute children’s movie. *but wait* *it’s not*

Too bad the 2018 animation had the 2019 ‘Lion King’ effect. The character models look realistic enough, but the original film had such flair and the lead characters looked much more like real rabbits compared to 2018’s characters

Who else didn't even *know* there was a remake before finding this video? **Raises hand**

This is a 2019 comment But wait, It's not

The one thing I’ll always hate about the 2018 remake was the fact that in the original in the fight between Bigwig and Woundwort, when he asks him to come out, Bigwig says his chief has told him to defend this run out of his own loyalty which demonstrates his change of character in accepting Hazel as his leader. Whereas in this version, he just gets told to say it by Hazel and which really pisses me off since it just destroys anything left of Bigwig’s character. Personally, I don’t think Bigwig had a character in this remake

I think I like the remake because it really went deep with the characters and although Clover took out some Fiver parts, I think there was enough development for him as well as Clover and the others. I also like how fun and lovable BigWig is in the remake.

i actually really liked the remake. I thought it was a fun watch. In the original it was kinda hard for me to fallow along and understand what was happening. I thought in this one was a lot easier to fallow. I didn’t think the animation was too bad. Some parts are better then others but this is like four hours long and it would be extremely expensive to try to animate everything in a higher quality. Plus I don’t feel like water ship down is that popular. I’m in high school and nobody knows about and are probably against watching it because they probably think it’s just a stupid four hour tv show about bunnies. So why would they spend a ton of money on something that probably isn’t going to blow up and go viral. I really did think this was going to be horrible but in my opinion it turned out good. I’m no movie critic tho. feel free to disagree cause I’m literally pulling this out of my ass.

I’d like to ‘briefly’ touch on the “bucks can’t dig” argument, because it isn’t wrong. When I was younger I owned a lot of rabbits and we didn’t keep them in hutches, we kept them in cages made for rabbits. But we had two groups of rabbits that were in wooden frames that could be moved around. I mention this because there is no wire bottom or anything, but there was wire connecting all the wood, both of these elements are important. We had two, one for bucks, one for does. Both escaped quite regularly, but how they escaped differed between the bucks and the does. The does would, as you would expect, dug tunnels out of the enclosure. The bucks on the other hand, would make no attempt at digging, and instead chewed through the wire or found holes in it to escape from. I’ve seen a couple people say that bucks don’t dig because their claws are made for fighting, and that is very likely, now I’m not sure if it’s true but it absolutely makes sense. The stronger buck can more effect my protect the young AND the mother while she is pregnant. The bucks we had would frequently fight with one another, especially if it was over a female. I even watched the 2018 version of Watership Down with my mum, who was quite knowledgeable on rabbits and had observed what I just explained to you, and she said it was accurate. Plus, when they say they need does, they also say they need them as diggers, as well as companions and mothers. All this to say: Bucks don’t dig.

I actually loved the 2018 version. I know it had its flaws but at least it’s better than the other Watership Down animated series. It did have my attention and it got me over my fear of the original. I would really love to read the book. Love your videos and always enjoy when I get a bell that you post a new video

This was great! Love the original so much after seeing this dont think I'll bother watching the remake and stick to the well loved original !

This CGI looks like a bad online video game...

Is it wrong I keep adding to some of his critiques under my breath: "Cuz its it the book." Did it with his Plague Dog review as well.. "Cuz Richard Adams said so, my guy." Side Note: Still very much enjoying his perspective and is curious if he does a book review, would his opinions change.

Personally I think the whole reason they couldn’t do creepiness is British censorship

Didn't Hazel die of old age in the book?

I actually love how they develop the characters more and making Clover like Hazel gives her more character. I do agree though that it would hev been nice for Fiver to have gotten more development and focus. If clover and Hazel were more on the side, it would be cuter

*But Wait, It's Not*

Another detail that bothered me personally was that fact that in the CG. The rabbits design look more like hares than actual bunnies.

In the book it’s actually both claims that the original movie and remake have on the need for Does, They needed them because they would need future generations and yeah they needed them because their claws were built to create nests. Bucks legitimately don’t have the claws for digging they’re for fighting.

“that's a bloody epic scene“ well yeah, it sure is bloody.

General Woundwarts last words 1987: "Dogs Aren't dangerous!" 2018: "I fear nothing"

Peter Rabbit + War = Watership down Edit: didn’t expect this to get so many likes thanks people!

*_I'm pretty sure the real winner of this battle is the ORIGINAL BOOK itself. It's way better than the two._*

I don't really see showing Woundwort's sad backstory as a problem. It doesn't justify his actions or make us feel sympathy for him. It simply explains why he is the way he is.

The death of Violet in the 1978 version bothers the hell out of me because in the book, it was incredibly important that none of the rabbits died on their journey, which is what gave them such high confidence that they could achieve things like breaking the rabbits out of the barn and infiltrating Effrafa because they felt that fate was on their side.

Growing up I always thought that the Animals of Farthing Wood was set in the same place as Watership Down

Woundwort's backstory exists because he's supposed to be an extremist who originally had a point. His original goal to protect others is admirable but then he twists it into an authoritarian regime and it all goes downhill from there. Without it, he's just a two-note character. Same reason he, in the book, briefly considers Hazel's offer.

I wander how long intil remake of plague dogs happens

"Kehaar is based on a soldier from the Norwegian Resistance during World War II." Thus the accent. He's based on a soldier that Richard Adams knew during WWII.

As to the "bucks don't dig" - this is used in the novel to show how forward thinking Hazel's warren is. It's established practice that bucks will usually only dig a short scrape for shelter, but actual burrows are dug by the does when they are having kittens. So Blackberry (always the clever one) reasons that they need to do things differently - if they're going to make a go of living on Watership Down they'll have to try new things. The bucks come together to dig the Honeycomb, with the idea of basing some of the design on Cowslip's great warren. And it's a great success - they dig out the warren themselves. (Strawberry gets a lot of the credit as helping to design the warren). It's only after they've finished the whole warren that they realise they need does, to continue the warren after they've gone.

I just love the *_But wait its not_* parts

I liked that they added Woundort's backstory as a kind of nod to the book, but they kind of missed the point of it's existence. Here's the full story: He used to live alone with his mother, father, and siblings near a house with a vegetable garden, and his father would occasionally raid it to get Flayrah for his family. Until one day the man living in this house decides he's had enough. He kills Woundwort's father and then goes for the rest of the family. The mother tries to escape with her kits, but Woundwort is the only one able to keep up. Later a weasel comes and kills his mother right in front of him. A little while later a human comes and raises him, in the safety of a house, far from any danger (sound familiar?) But he still grew up very wild and eventually escaped. Personally, I think this backstory wasn't there to make us feel for Woundwort, but more so to show his filosophy. It's true that he was taking a lot of rabbits' freedom from them, but he was also keeping them safe. His trauma, combined with his hunger for power, drove him into believing he was doing the right thing. Woundwort was mad, and it was this madness that drove him to his (possible) death. Thank you for listening to me rambling on about fictional rabbits.

I think the reason they said that bucks “can’t” dig is because in the original book, Bigwig (I think; it may have been one of the others) says that digging is “for does”. Then Adams side notes later that bucks only scrape when they need to, while does do a lot of the digging for their kits. So, they didn’t make it up, they just used it as an excuse so they didn’t have to mention “reproduction” in the movie. So, still a dumb reason 😂

I can STILL hear the ghost rabbits... "WE COULDN'T GET OUT." "A FUNNY SOUND, A HISSING, THEN THE AIR TURNED SOUR" "DEAD BODIES BLOCKED THE ESCAPES" All of these lines and their delivery are burned into my memory.

Hazel: Clover! Clover: Who's that? Hazel: It's me, we're back. Clover: Hazel~! Me: DAMN get a ROOM you two!

Grandma: *I think I’ll get this on DVD for my grandson, it looks cute.* Grandson: *(screaming in horror)*

Since its now on Netflix as a ,,Orignal" now i can easily say: Manga: the Book Anime: the animated Film Netflix adaptation: the 2018 miniseries

In real rabbit warrens does are the ones who dig. A buck can dig a hole but doesn't have the brain power/instincts to create a Warren. Bucks can't even dig a tunnel. The main reason for a buck to dig is when it's fighting. When two bucks fight they will stop and dig with their tails up, the digging is a show of strength in attempt to intimidate the other buck. They also will dig a small hole and overturn the dirt during hot weather to lay in and cool off.

One of my favourite books....never watched the movies though. Disappointing to hear they changed basic points, such as taking Fiver's sixth sense about his brother away. Hazel was always "reluctant hero-leader" in the book. Bigwig was the tank who kept order under Hazel. Kehaar talks normally? They don't speak the same language. Why did they ruin the characters? Also notice how they are never sitting, but always have their hindquarters up? Rabbits lollop and sit, run and sit, hop and sit. These guys look more like dogs with their backs always up. Come to think of it, they look like kangaroos!

The animation in the remake looks like an unfinished xbox cutscene. I can't stand it

7:40 That is actually a freaking irl fact that wasn’t just put in there for plot convenience. Female rabbits are normally the ones who dig the burrows because males are crap at it.

Hey Steve would you mind doing a review on this movie called 9? It’s a little creepy animated movie that I recommend Edit: God! Over 250 likes? Thanks guys (and gals as well)

The new watership down is the superior version and is a flawless masterpiece... *but wait, it's not*

7:50 But in real life female Rabbits as better diggers than male rabbits. There is a real citation to a study that shows that female rabbit dig longer and more consistently and more elaborately than males. Don't ask me why that is but they do.

I can't help but wonder if you've ever actually read the book. A lot of the things you're perplexed by in the remake are actually misguided attempts to include things from the book. Like, the reason a rabbit would make a shitty joke in the middle of a suspenseful scene is because in the book, he was established as having gone a little mad in the destruction of their home warren, and was constantly making silly jokes.

They ruined bigwig my favorite character. Bigwig stood up for hazel, it was bigwig whose confidence in hazel was a major factor that influenced others to join him to start the journey

This wasn't a good review. But wait, it was.

I'm kindoff ashamed of myself because I actually cry when people criticize the original because I love it a bit too much 😅

I've only read the book once, so I might be mis-remembering, but the 'bucks don't dig' and the 'Woundwort backstory' are part of the original novel. The digging thing isn't super important and more used as a extra reason why they need does, so that's probably why it's dropped from the 78 film. As to Woundwort, in the book, his mother is killed and, I think, he's taken in by a human. In the book it's used to explain why Effrafra is as messed up as it is. Woundwort has the place on lockdown so they don't get found. The 78 film probably gets rid of it for time and so that they don't risk softening Woundwort. The remake might have planned to have a longer sequence that was closer to the book, but cut it in the end. In the remake, Woundwort makes moves on Clover is because 'they're both hutch rabbits' even though we never see him being a hutch rabbit.

Ok I’ve noticed a lot of comments on here referring to how the book is better, and how the BBC remake is superior as it made lots of references to the book that I missed, such as the Does being able to dig better than the Bucks. Full disclosure, I have not read the book, and perhaps I should have made that clear in the video, but here’s my response: 1) This review was purely to compare the two films to one another, and that’s it. I never really get it when people look at the book as a direct form of entertainment comparison. A book is a completely different medium and offers the individual a completely different experience to watching something on a screen. It’s like saying that playing a board game is much better than playing a video game, when in fact they’re two different things. By all means you can state how the book handled things different, such as story elements and characters, but you can’t compare they’re entertainment quality. 2) People are saying that if I had read the book then I would fully understand why the BBC remake mentioned such seemingly pointless things, such as the Bucks not being able to dig as good as the Does. This is apparently fully explained in the book. Well here’s the thing.. the book may have explained better as to why the Does are the better diggers, but the BBC remake did not, it simply threw it in as a random line of dialogue with no context surrounding it. Therefore it is assuming that I must have already read the book, so don’t need it fully explained to me. That’s bad writing, I should not have to go seeking additional source material in order to understand what’s going on, it should all be fully explained in the film itself. If one of the rabbits in the remake just added a bit of extra dialogue such as “we never learnt how to dig as in our old warren it was the Does that dug out the tunnels” then fine, but it didn’t. 3) I hope you are all having a wonderful day. :)

Wouldn't it be better to compare both adaptations to the original novel rather than against each other? The novel does cover the male rabbits needing females to dig burrows because males only have the drive to dig scrapes to rest in. Females dig dens to raise their kits in. The novel also covers Woundwart's backstory to show why he's so cautious of being found by humans. This is like comparing Netflix's Mowgli to Disney's Junglebook. Of course they're not going to match 100% They're trying to cover different aspects of the novel. Mind you, the original movie is more loyal to the book when it comes to characterization and plot points.

07:40 - Guess you never read the book? That's also a biological fact. Bucks don't dig, they protect the warren and fight other bucks. In the book and the animated show it is Hazel who talks the others into actually trying to work, but that's also why they are motivated to rescue the does. Blackberry was the only female with them in the cartoon, and she couldn't dig it out alone.

I agree with most of your points. But it looks like you forgot watership down was a book before it was a movie. I don't think this was ment to be a remake of the 1978 movie, but an adaptation of the book. I enjoyed it. I'm probably not watching it again, but it was alright. I think the worse for me was the character designs. I could only tell most characters apart from their voices. They all kinda look alike in most scenes.

Who else thought the 3D animation was clunky?

Something i always liked about the original was how Woundwart looked. He was this hulking, bulky monster of a rabbit that had this genuine menace that came from his design, to the point where he's barely even a rabbit anymore. Meanwhile in the remake he's indistinguishable from any other character save for some scars on his ears and his eye, he doesn't look intimidating or monsterous, which massively detracts from how intimidating he's meant to be.

About the “Bucks can’t dig, we need does”: both movies are correct with the book. They need does to dig because does have the instincts to dig for their kittens

"The CGI isn't that bad" - People with low expectations.

If you like Watership Down, then Plague Dogs would be right up your street.

Me seeing the thumbnail: *wait?... THERES A REMAKE???*

Can you do the Iron Giant movie please?

I still haven't checked out the remake since I'm still mentally scarred from seeing the original when I was five, haha. I do have to say, the style of the remake makes me a bit uncomfortable. There is something... weird about it. It reminds me of those old, awful computer animations that have this realistic skin slapped on top of them. And it disturbs me greatly.

"Males tend to be more easy going and relaxed while females are usually "the boss" of any household. In the wild, rabbits pair up into couples with the female digging their burrow and the male defending her and the burrow against intruders."

2018 remake of Watership down is well animated *but wait* *it's not*

They have de-brutalized the doom of old Warren. In the book and original movie the warren was destroyed by locking all holes and poisoned rabbits with gas. It was cruel, brutal, something so unbelievable it never happened before, reminding gas chambers in German death camps. They were obsessively digging in panic, fighting with each other for another breath, choking with blood and suffocating, creating the pile of twisted dead bodies in corners (gas chambers again). It suppose to be shocking and it was in the original movie. In BBC series it was so flattened... The builders just came, started to dig and destroyed the warren to build houses... I mean, tragic but... Meh

Oh boy, the walk/run cycles, Now, that’s the real horror.

I the only one who thinks the rabbits in the clips he's showing of the remake don't look like rabbits at all? They look like Hares.

I'll take a shot each time he says : *"But Wait, It's Not"*

I dont know why so many people expect the BBC version to take things from the '78 version when the newer one was not using the old film as source material... of course they're going to do things differently because the source material is the book itself. The old film was more successful visually but imo I think the newer one captured the book better. When reading the book I honestly didn't get the same "creepy" vibes the '78 film induces, and I think the 2018 version captures the vibe of the book a bit better. But to each his own.

The 1978 movie's animation of the rabbits is so more realistic than that of the tv-series 1999-2001 and even of the BBC-version.

“But wait, it’s not.” -Steve Reviews, 2019

Ooof. You gotta read the book. Explains so much stuff so much better. The clover thing is so irritating. Hazel never even ended up with her. Romance never comes into play, it's all about mating and breeding. And Fiver has a vision that leads him to Hazel. And there's way too much wrong with how they do everything with kehaar. Why can't movies ever just follow the source material... Lol. The author doesn't even like the original cartoon movie. I wonder what he thinks of the remake...

Please do “The Secret of Nihm” that movie scared she crap out of me as a kid

Steve: *grew up on scary sh-t like this* Me and 68% of his subscribers: *grew up watching bambi*

Normally love your stuff but I completely disagree with this review. I think the core of the problem here is you view the 2018 version as a reboot of the original film when it's really a new adaptation of the book. It may not sound like it but that's a very important distinction For example, you say Woundwort isn't meant to be sympathetic and his story should be ambiguous but that would only be true if this was going by the old film. In the book, Woundwort has a backstory almost identical to the new version from the loss of his parents to being a hutch rabbit. In this sense I think the new is superior because it portrays the villain in the way the source material intended. Another is the bizarre criticism that it doesn't include Bright Eye. This song is completely irrelevant to the book and was really only in the old film because it was by a popular singer at the time. There's no necessity to include it. I understand you are comparing the two but deviations from the old film are not problems in themselves as it is not an adaptation of it. To really compare the two as adaptations you should really have looked at their source material.

I actually really enjoyed the remake and I want to watch it again. The animation was uncanny in places, like when the rabbits hop and their facial expressions but it's not that horrid...people are overreacting a lot. I do agree the whole Clover and Hazel thing drove me NUTS. Like why? What's the point? They should have made more time for Fivver...I felt like he barely got any screen time. The same with general wound wort (probably spelt their names wrong but oh well)

Woundwart's backstory was explored in the book. Maybe read that...

So did you just you know completely forget about how dandelion and sunflower fought each other because there was only one doe (strawberry) and that was definitely another reason they made pretty clear about getting doe’s. Not just for digging the warren.

15:39 "YU sTuPhiD BuNNehs! Yu GoT noH MeYTz!" "ThEh AH *MEYTZ* " "tHEH AAH *cHEeIIZ!* "

Watership up

Is it weird I enjoy both the Netflix 2018 version and the original 1978 film equally? Along with the book? I literally love all three, can't pick which is my favorite and I've read the book five times

“That’s the cutest f**king thing I’ve ever seen” *MEME NOISE*

but wait have you actually read the book?

I think in the end when you asked about the crappy joke it was more showing how they didn't want their story teller to panic. In real live when rabbits panic they can die very easily from just a small panic. The idea of them calming him down with a joke is kind of heartwarming.

"Hey kids, I have a great movie for you...it's about rabbits. You like rabbits don't you?"

Want to point out real quickly that the joke bluebell made 'a hoptomist' - while validly not to your taste - is accurate characterization taken from the book. In the book bluebell actually arrives with holly, and holly credits his constant bad puns as the only reason he didn't lose himself to despair while tracking the others. Blackberry also references bluebell's tendency to crack jokes during tense or frightening moments in the second episode, and actively discourages him from making one shortly after. Some people respond to fear with humor as a coping mechanism and this is very much what bluebells deal is.

I saw it and and I think it’s actually pretty good, but there’s like barley no blood

honestly, the bastardised kehaar was my favourite part of this miniseries:i was so bored with the way they'd done the rest of it that I thought it was hilarious that he just left because he didn't want to deal with it and then came back because he felt like it. he felt like a weird wildcard that I was totally here for

7:55 - Um, female rabbits are better at digging dens in real life. This is a scientifically accurate fact. That's probably why the line is there.

7:59 they do expand on it. He later is yelling at one of his generals for being afraid. In the flashback he was afraid of the fox and failed to warn his family. It gives a reason to why he stresses the need to not be afraid. At the very end as the dog is about to kill him he tells himself that he isn’t afraid.

Honestly the actual darkness of the scenes in the remake made it look like I was staring at a pitch black screen

27:05 Steve: “Why would you break the tension?” *Because that was the goal. They knew they were about to die so he was trying to cheer his friend up.*

Blackberry and Dandelion aren't pointless characters. Dandelion lifted spirits during the journey to the Down by telling stories. Blackberry's intelligence got the rabbits out of some extremely hairy situations i.e: The dog in the woods that forced them across the creek, he figured out they could use the board to help Pipkin and Fiver cross because they were exhausted and wouldn't make the swim themselves. He attributed that knowledge to the boat they use to escape the Efrafans near the end of the story as well. Something that was sadly cut out of the remake and bothers me to no end.

I liked they added the romance to the remake, but you are right about Hazel and his brother’s relationship should be more focused on. Hazel and Clover could be on the side.

24:24 Goes full on Gardians of Ga'hoole for a sec there.

You know it's a based on a book, right? In the story, most of the changes you hated actually happened in the book lol. Its been a while but when they said the thing about the doe digging, I think that was a real reason in the book

The “excuse” that they need females to dig the burrows is actually a valid one. Female rabbits are the one to make the houses and dens for their little mating pairs. Male rabbits are basically male angular fish just less face melts and literally parasitic.

Bigwig: WE CANT DIG WE NEED SLAVES Hazel: Um. Does? Bigwig: YUS, WE NEED, *DOES* Hazel: Fiver: Uhmmmm, Hazel? Do you smell that? Hazel: Yes I do Fiver, *looks at Bigwig* I smell bullsh-

My real issue is that while the remake is ok, it's non-offensive. It just lacks any of the real heart or soul of the original. In it's dumbing down and increased length it just lost everything that made the original memorable. It seems the BBC completely failed to grasp that Watership Down is such a cult classic movie is BECAUSE it is very adult in nature and has some very unique and surreal visuals in it;s animation style and it;s use of colour and music. It seems the BBC were just like "oh, people like this cute bunny cartoon from the 70's, let's remake it" Without understanding WHY everyone holds the movie so close to their hearts. This remake is forgettable and that is the biggest sin any Watership Down media could commit.

i remember 12 year old me watching watership down, practically dying from laughter after that seagull said "piss off" (and yes i watched the old one and im surprised i wasnt disturbed af)

With the romantic thing, another point is that *these are rabbits.* They don't *do* romance. The bit with does being better diggers than bucks is mentioned in the book (does *are* the primary diggers), but it's more an issue during the journey when they have to find shelter for the night, not when establishing the warren. Woundwart's backstory is part of the book. I understand why they wanted to include it, but what they showed was such a small part and at such an awkward time that they would've been better off cutting it entirely. Ugh, and Kehaar. Why did they feel the need to ruin this character. And the other characters. Yeah, I also have serious issues with the new animation. The animals move a lot more realistically in the original adaptation. Heck, they *move* in the original adaptation. Some of the scenes in the new one look like they just threw rabbit models at each other.