watching Watership Down 2018 and starting to realize how necessary the terrifying animation of the 1978 film was. The visually dark aesthetic and sparse use of music really just built an atmosphere of urgency and danger and vulnerability, but 2018’s bland CG and washed out palette really just doesn’t do anything for the story and instead just kinda makes the whole thing feel… trifling. Like it really is just a bunch of rabbits and not the epic odyssey it’s meant to be
like the whole problem is pretty neatly summarized just by comparing the bloody hill scene. here’s the 1978 version:
we get a vivid crimson running down from the forest, as though it’s been drained from the pale sun overhead, which is cleverly framed with barbed wire and followed by the trees morphing into black shadows that reach toward the warren like veins or a plague. paired with the desperate violin that plays here, we totally get it. fiver’s premonition is harrowing and we want the characters out of there as quickly as possible. there’s urgency
then the 2018 series:
granted this actually looks pretty alright for the CG, but.. this hardly feels like the omen of certain annihilation that cranks the whole story into motion. you can hardly even see the blood on the hill, and it’s even backed by like a nice sunset? there’s so little styling and flair and peril that i’m not even sure I believe fiver in the 2018 version, much less that any of the other characters would. it’s lifeless.
Sourced via post options as per tumblr’s glitch where linked photos werent in searches for some people
I know this keeper is someone who has animals that i personally dont recommend anyone keep, nor would i keep myself, due to their toxicty. But look at this retic. Its so rare to see a non obese giant constrictor. This guy is only 11 feet and is expected to keep growing, but i just had to share what a well weighted pet retic should look like. Theyre not lazy snakes when they’re healthy, a friend of mine has one thats about 2 years old and shes all over the place.
