Review wanted:Watership Down
 

I haven't seen this movie since I was a kid and I remember it having a strong impact on me at the time.

I can't wait to watch it again. HOWS THE DVD? Specs ect..

I don't have the dvd but there are a few confusing specs floating about;

LD= Widescreen
DVD= Fullscreen 4:3

IMDB lists the films length at 101 minutes
DVD is listed at 92 minutes

I am confused enough that I won't pick up the dvd until a few reviews shed some light on the specs.

DVDTalk's own DVD Savant has a review up here: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=3584

Warner Home Video
1978 / Color / 1:37 / 101 min.
Starring John Hurt, Richard Briers, Michael Graham Cox, Ralph Richardson, Terence Rigby, Roy Kinnear, Denholm Elliott, Zero Mostel, Harry Andrews, Nigel Hawthorne, Michael Hordern, Joss Ackland
Film EditorTerry Rawlings
Original Music Angela Morley, Marcus Dods, Mike Batt
Written by Martin Rosen from the novel by Richard Adams
Produced by Martin Rosen
Directed by Martin Rosen


It clearly says 1:37 and yet savant says anamorphic.
The running time matches the IMDB listing so that clears that up.

Now all we need is the aspect ratio debunked.
Savant says "The anamorphic-enhanced image captures all the beauty of the watercolor backgrounds and the fine points of the animation." So I am confused 1:37 aspect ratio's cannot be anamorphic.

I, for one, have those sick and disturbing images permanently engraved on my mind from when I was a kid. My god I'm 28 now, and I still remember it!

I will not be revisiting this twisted propaganda.

So it is practically full screen at 1:37 leaving tiny letterbox bars which means it could be anamorphic. Right?

I will be picking this up for the wonderful artwork and voice acting. I won't let my son see it until he is old enough to grapple with the images and issues it raises.

I don't see how this film is any more propaganda than any Disney film it tells a tale of survival in a harsh and violent world. Not escapist fare but certainly not "Propaganda" either.

No, for all practical purposes 1.37:1 is visibly identical to full-frame 1.33:1. If there were tiny letterbox bars, they would be obscured by your TV's overscan. The disc cannot be anamorphically encoded unless it were windowboxed into the center of the frame with large black bars on all four sides, an unlikely possibility. Generally only movies with an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 or wider are anamorphically enhanced.

I haven't seen the DVD so can't comment on its aspect ratio, but the laserdisc was definitely letterboxed. Around 1.66:1, if I recall. Perhaps the 1.37:1 listing in the specs is just an error?

The movie is anamorphic widescreen and looks about 1.66:1. The surround sound mix is pretty good and the film looks better than the video tape I had previously. Haven't watched it all the way through yet, but hopefully I will find time tonight.

I watched it the other night. I loved it...it had been years since I'd seen it, and seeing it Letterboxed was kinda nice. Again, as years before, tears came to my eyes during the final 15 minutes...the release of the dog, the music pumping up, all of it.


I'm curious of Naitram's "Twisted Propaganda" comment...I saw this movie as a child, and it actually got me to read the book while in High School (Yeah, I was 8 when I saw it for the first time).

In short, I give it a good review...

This was never intended to be a kid's story. The book is aimed squarely at adults, and that seems to be the film director's intent as well.

Of course, just because it was a cartoon--with animals as the protagonists, no less--everyone thought it would be perfect show for the little kiddies. That's not the movie's fault!!!

The original movie poster features a rabbit crying in pain against a barbed wire fence. Parents might consider actually knowing somthing about the movies they take their kids to see...

(This reminds me of all those people who hated Kiss of the Spider Woman because it wasn't a horror film...)

I saw this film when I was about 7 or 8 years old and I loved it. Even at that age I could appreciate this film. While its not a kiddy film I think kids can watch it with their parents. My son has already seen it. He had questions about it that I answered, but I didn't notice any ill effects from seeing it. :)

I read the book in high school, and it became on of my most favorite novels ever. I've never seen the movie, but ordered it today :thumbsup:

The DVD is anamorphic widescreen. Listed as 1.85:1 but closer to 1.78:1 if you want to get picky. Quality is decent enough given the budget and age of the film. Audio is a Dolby Digital 3.0 mix that is actually quite good. The extras are all but worthless little text features of only a page or two, except for the trailer. There is no full-frame version on the disc -- widescreen only.