Starts with John Hubley’s gorgeous avant-garde drawing and fable origin story prologue—he was fired by producer Rosen during the direction of the film (Rosen took over)
The style consists of some gorgeous nature arkwork and the simulated rolling tracking shots (pushing forward like Michael Curtiz) as we push past grass in the countryside
Great surrealism sequence showing the prognostication – it happens again in flashback form to show what happened of the borrow—great imagery
Predators and land development out to get these rabbits
A really beautiful shot that shows the sky changing to pink dusk
Another standout sequence is the simulated 360 degree shot of the spying from different openings in the rabbit house from the outside
A real sense of dread and death in the narrative — the film is violent, bloody
A bit of it is too on the nose “men will never stop until they’ve ruined the earth”
Clearly had an influence on Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox– the segregation of the country fields
Some strong foreground/background work with the blades of grass in front of the camera
The Art Garfunkel “Bright Eyes” is absolutely perfect. Soft and ethereal. Eden. A lovely montage to accompany it
Ends with the repetition of the line from the fable
[…] Watership Down – Rosen […]