MovieChat Forums > Watership Down (1978) Discussion > Rating?

Rating?

posted 10 years ago by ProfessorFrink79
11 replies | jump to latest

Is anyone else amazed that this film is still classified as a U? It's incredibly violent, and Keehar the gull tells the rabbits to "piss off." It freaked me out a bit as a child, and I'd already read the book, so I knew what to expect.

Many parents have fallen into the trap of thinking 'it's an animated movie about bunnies and it's a U, it must be suitable for kids' only to end up with weeping, traumatised children, whilst completely harmless films like Disney's Dinosaur get rated PG. Makes no sense to me.

Also, is the rating different in the US? I know it's a slightly different rating system over there.

"I don't have low self-esteem ... I have low esteem for everyone else." - Daria.

[–] StarskyandChinaHutch 10 years ago

People become incredibly boring without some good old-fashioned animated film trauma. It's an important part of growing up.

[–] Shootmovie 10 years ago

I first saw this film when I was 6-7. It terrified me with it's violence, blood and death but even then it lifted me, comforted me and gave me a sense that even in death everything will be ok. Nearly 30 years on it still invokes the same emotions. In the trivia section it says that even now, the bbfc is still getting complaints from angry parents. My son is nearly 5, when he turns 6 we'll watch this together, laugh, cry and be scared together and I hope he takes from it what I did. You can't shield kids from the pain of loss and from fear of what's bad in this world but you can prepare them for it.

[–] savagebiscuits 9 years ago

My son is nearly 5, when he turns 6 we'll watch this together, laugh, cry and be scared together and I hope he takes from it what I did. You can't shield kids from the pain of loss and from fear of what's bad in this world but you can prepare them for it.

I do agree with your point about not shielding kids from subjects simply because they're difficult, and I also personally feel that the U certificate can still be justified despite the depictions of the subjects brought up by the film. Still, the way you suggest that you'll be watching it with your kid does tend to go with a PG rating, at least in spirit. Still, kids shouldn't be shielded from such difficult subjects, and this film does a great job in dealing with such material.

I watched this film when it first came out and it's always stuck in my mind, in a good way. Great story and film.

[–] ProfessorFrink79 9 years ago

Some interesting replies here. To be clear, I'm not suggesting the film is completely unsuitable for children, but it definitely needs a higher rating - perhaps PG as opposed to U. A U rating suggests there is nothing in the film that could possibly upset or scare a child, and Watership Down has several scenes that young or sensitive children could find very distressing. There's also the use of the word 'piss' - I'm sure there's no other U rated film that would allow that.

In today's film industry, more so than in the past, kids' films are very tame - you never see blood, for example, even when characters are fighting to the death. Take the fight scene between Simba and Scar in The Lion King - two huge predators armed with razor-sharp teeth and claws are tearing at each other in fury, yet not a drop of blood is seen. Even in Bambi, which upset a lot of people, you don't actually see his mother get shot - it all happens off-screen. As I mentioned before, Disney's Dinosaur is a PG, and that contains nowhere near the level of violence seen in Watership Down. And nobody swears at anybody, either. So someone unfamiliar with Watership Down would be likely to think it a completely innocuous film suitable for anyone, based on the U rating.

"If something's hard to do, it's not worth doing." - Homer Simpson.

[–] blackcauldron 9 years ago

The PG rating - in the US and abroad in the UK - would be completely appropriate. Yes, it is a "nature" film... nothing in it that doesn't necessarily happen in real life... however, the amount of blood on camera just doesn't apply to a "G" or "U" film, where the implication is that it is mostly appropriate for all ages, although some aspects may find some parents some concern. Again, the PG rating is wholly appropriate.

[–] ProfessorFrink79 9 years ago

Exactly. A parent unfamiliar with the story would have no idea of the violence, blood and so on involved in this film based on its U rating, and might show it to a child who could be really upset by it. PG would at least alert them to the fact that it might be worth checking out before showing to the kid. What is the rating in the US, do you know?

When life gives you lemons, shut up and eat the damn lemons.

[–] bookstore451 9 years ago

It's rated PG here in the US.

[–] mellonmarshall 8 years ago

well it might been in the UK if the rating existed but that won't happen for another 4 years

[–] hmoorz 7 years ago

I often wondered if whoever was in charge of rating films in Britain during the release of 'Watership Down' simply gave it an automatic "U" without bothering to see it and from there on out the BBFC had to forever defend this major cock-up.

I'm glad in the States WD gets the "PG" it deserves. Some say that if WD had come out after Spielberg's 'Temple of Doom' it might have garnered the first PG-13 for an animated film.

[–] mellonmarshall 7 years ago

UM no there was no PG rating in 1978 and it won't appear until 1982 and the 12 that's 1989 so you have got to look at ratings they had, which is U, A, and X with the A being over 14 or later the 15 we know.
This is not a 15. So they have give the U but if you want them to give an A just tell them.

You can only make sense of the past if you look at the facts that they had.

[–] 7 years ago

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