Gatsby’s doing quite well in case you’re wondering. Two days in, Mr. Downybottom’s fully aclimated to urban living. He’s a free-range hopper who knows where to keep his poops and doesn’t even flinch at cat meowls.
Gatsby’s not the first pet rabbit I’ve kept. Round about the second grade, I had a white rabbit creatively named Snowball. One day, when playing with her in the yard, a feral neighborhood bunny came into the yard and “attacked” Snowball. Very traumatic. A month later, I came home from school to discover bloody mole rats in Snowball’s cage! Talk about trauma. Unsure what to do about these strange exotic creatures that were pestering poor snowball, I took them out of the cage and placed them in a nest of lawn clippings arranged in our dog’s water bowl. It wasn’t until mom got home from work a few hours later that I figured out that the “mole rats” would probably be happier back with Snowball, seeing as they were her newborn young.
My other rabbit memories are even more traumatic:
All the world will be your enemy, Prince of a Thousand enemies. And when they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you; digger, listener, runner, Prince with the swift warning. Be cunning, and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed.
When even the friendly seagull sidekick is picking out bloody shrapnel from the hero’s wounds, you know you’re talking quality children’s entertainment. Seriously, was there ever an animated film more nightmare inducing than Watership Down? To this day, when I close my eyes, I pray the death bunny doesn’t come…
Even though the film is English, this clip feels right at home with the German narration:
And as long as I’m posting foreign language fables, no storyteller can compete with the brilliant Capucine:
Once upon a time… from Capucha on Vimeo
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BIG VAT-AH! I COME FROM BIG VA-TAH!
Seriously. Watership Down was one tripped out, freaky movie. I hate when the one bunny recounts the harrowing story of the warren being bulldozed and all the other bunnies suffocating in the ground, and suddenly the tunnels become blood on the field.
And then there’s that near-death hallucination that Hazel has with the black bunny of death and the Art Garfunkle song…
Never show it to Bunnicula. It will make him scared.
But that little French girl? So cute! A little Amelie in the making…
Ahhhh Watership Down!! I adore that movie/book ^_^ My dad made me read that when I was 13 or so, and in return he promised to watch Return of the King. Well, I’ve now read the book 1 1/2 times, and he STILL hasn’t watched the movie. Typical dad *sigh*
Yeah, the movie kind of traumatized me and my younger sister too when we watched it for the first time. Not so much the black rabbit of Inle as the bunnies getting torn up at the end. That’s just sick! Fiver’s my favorite. Plus the voice actor who was Aragorn in the animated Lord of the Rings and Ollivander in Harry Potter is in it as Hazel.
John Hurt has an amazingly awesome nerd resume. In addition to the stuff you mentioned, he’s also Winston in 1984, the titular Storyteller of Jim Henson fame, Caligula in the wonderful BBC I, Claudius, The Horned King in the Black Cauldron, the original chestburster victim in Alien, daddy to Hellboy, villain to V (for Vendetta), and mentor to Indian Jones. Guy gets around.
I have never heard of this movie till now and I must admit that this is THE most disturbing thing I have ever seen! I watched an extra thing after watching what you posted, and the bunnies were attacking each other! This is directed towards children?! It reminds me a something symbolic towards the Holocaust. I’m serious I almost threw up watching this. I’m sorry to be so plain Jake, but I had to put that out there.
*of* instead of a something
Maggie,
The novel Watership Down by Richard Adams is definitely not a childrens book, but it is a good gateway book for young bibliophiles looking to challenge themselves, much like Animal Farm or 1984. I wouldn’t consider the 1978 movie version a “kids movie” by any means, but I’m sure that many kids were exposed to it on VHS in the 80s when the selection of animated features on the store shelves were much more limited than they are today. As far as mom’s concerned, “it’s just a cartoon,” right?
That said, I don’t think that dark and troubling subject matter should be taboo for kids. Watership Down is possibly the bloodiest “family film” around, but it’s also talks about death in a way that kids can understand without trivializing it.it’s also just good a good modern fable, timeless in its subject and a time capsule of its era in style and music.
It is rated PG, if I’m not mistaken, so that ought to tip the parents off that this isn’t for small children. When I rented it, the guy handed it to me and said “You know this has blood in it, don’t you? Don’t go showing it to the kids.” Of course, I don’t have kids, but I appreciated the concern.
The Secret of NIMH, another really fantastic animated film from the 80’s, is also quite dark. It even shows blood a few times and has the word “damn” in it, but yet somehow got a G rating. There’s probably a story behind why that is, but I’m not sure what happened.
Yay for John Hurt! I didn’t know he was in all the movies that you just mentioned. I’ll have to watch The Black Cauldron again, it’s been a while. Is Hellboy any good? I’ve been meaning to watch that too.
I love the book, but I agree the animated Watership Down is way too intense for kids. I’ll never forget one review which criticized the way “wounded bunnies paw moaning through the underbrush in a kind of lapine Apocalypse Now.” Pretty good description, really…
My sisters were freaked out by Watership Down when we were little, but I always loved it. But then, I was a fairly offbeat child… but there was a made for TV version of Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass that scared the crud out of my little for year old self.
I want to find Secret of Nimh on DVD really badly. I managed to get the Black Cauldron on DVD a few years ago, and it’s one of my very favorites. I adore childrens movies that treat kids like they’ve got half a brain. Kids aren’t stupid, they understand things a lot better than their over protective mommies like to think.
I loved Secret of Nimh, but I don’t recall it being dark in any way. Though there were plenty of kids movies that I can say were pretty dark. The Black Cauldron was pretty incentive. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of the darkest Disney movies in my opinion.
As a teenager, I love watching mature anime shows that have lots of violence and adventure. Mostly because they were meant for mature adults because the characters were either magical beings, warriors, robots, high school students, demons, or whatever. But when you take bunnies -beautiful creatures- and animate them, give them voices and bonds, then subject them to some of the most terrible gruesome things in life, you take things way out of proportion. Just by animating it, you put off that it is a happy movie with nothing but small conflicts and happy endings. Giving them bonds makes the punishment of instinct all the more excruciating. When I watch a movie, I myself feel as if I make a bond with the characters as if I were there with them. When you do that to a friend it just hurts. Especially when typically the only bonds that wild bunnies make are with their mothers and their mates, which are often short lived.
While I’m on this subject, the theme reminded me of this comic book type of book called “Mause” or “Mouse”. It was based off the Holocaust but with mice as humans. The cover of one chapter showed mice burning, screaming with pain. I just don’t understand how humans can be so cruel. Is it because we’re at the top of the food chain, so we must overcome ourselves to remain sane?
Maggie, The Secret of NIMH was VERY dark! You should watch it again. I remember the scenes where you first meet the rats scaring me as a child, as well as the flashback where you see the rats being experimented on. And the fact that the rats plan and successfully execute–ON CAMERA no less!!!–the murder of a crucial character was unheralded for animation at the time. (American animation at least.)
I LOVE Watership Down. I still hold that it’s probably the best non-Disney or non-Pixar animated film in history. And yes, it scared the crap out of me as a kid. But I loved that. I loved how family films in the 1970s and 1980s weren’t afraid to go dark. The Black Cauldron, The Dark Crystal, The Hobbit…all great examples.
I fell very sorry for the animators who had to draw violent, gorey bunnies attacking each other and being attacked by predators. That’s just wrong. The Secret of Nimh 2 wasn’t that bad, but now that you mention it, I should watch the first one again. I haven’t seen it in about ten years maybe. I don’t remember that last time I watched the dark crystal though.
Well, it might sound odd, but I love movies that make me cry, whether they’re happy or sad tears. Some movies that make me cry (all animated):
Whisper of the Heart
Howl’s Moving Castle
Samurai X: Reflection (once watched it 5 times in a row and cried each time!)
Castle of Cagliostro
FF: Advent Children
Finding Nemo (who wouldn’t?)
Treasure Planet
Ewwww nooooo! Not the Secret of NIMH 2! NOOOOO! *goes into fetal position and covers ears* I’m sorry, but I loved NIMH so much, and the sequel just kind of killed the story for me, so I try hard not to think about it. I’m sorry to say that I can’t recall seeing NIMH as a child, except the video cover at the store, and if I did it must not’ve left much of an impression then. Shame.
Howl’s Moving Castle and Whisper of the Heart are amazing movies. Studio Ghibli is my favorite Japanese animated film company
Have you seen Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away? More complete awesomeness right there.
Hayao Miyazaki=WIN
Yep, seen almost all of Miyazaki’s movie which I am aware of. They are so beautifully done and my heart soars through every minute of them.
And Tim, I just recently watched Secret of Nimh again. The experimentation was dark, but the murder of a crucial character is not uncommon in Disney.
Ex: Lion King, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Fox and the Hound (he did not die, but being hit by a train is quite bad!), Mulan (you don’t see him die, but they do let on to believe they murdered him), Treasure Planet (black hole? still not sure if he really died…), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (which I believe was one of the darkest Disney movies).
OMG… I dared myself to watch Watership down to the end. I shall admit to you all at this date that I was wrong. I only focused on the bad parts I saw in music videos. Now that I’ve watched all of the movie, I understand how it is actually a very influential statement of human and animal struggles. Please forgive me for my rashness. It was violent, yes; but it was also quite suspenseful and daring. I might just get the book at some point to read.