Watership Down

Watership Down (1978) is Martin Rosen's hand-drawn animated feature, adapted from Richard Adams' novel and ready to watch online on iFILM. When the rabbit Fiver senses something terrible coming to the warren, a small band led by his brother Hazel abandons home and sets out to find a safe burrow on a distant hill.

Do not mistake this for a cuddly cartoon about bunnies. The road to Watership Down runs through snares, dogs, motorways and the police-state warren of Efrafa, ruled by the brutal General Woundwort. Adams gave the rabbits their own folklore, their own tongue, and their own myths of El-ahrairah, and the film does not soften death for younger eyes.

The voice cast brings in John Hurt, Richard Briers and Ralph Richardson, while Art Garfunkel's "Bright Eyes" went on to a life of its own on the charts. It is tough, beautiful and far more grown-up than its rating suggests, the rare animated film that unsettles harder than most thrillers and stays with you for years. Stream Watership Down (1978) online on iFILM.