Watership Down is back on screen with a mini-series by Netflix and the BBC, and it’s both faithful to the book and absolutely beautiful!

Fans of Richard Adam’s beloved novel, Watership Down were extremely excited to discover that a new adaptation was coming to screen… and on Netflix! And while we had our qualms about how faithful it would be to the story, and how good the animation was going to be, this might be the best adaptation of the novel so far.

I realize that many fans might hate me for that assessment, considering how beloved the 1978 film and the ‘90s TV show were, but personally, this is the adaptation that has touched my heart the most and has managed to perfectly capture the feeling of reading the book.

There are changes, of course. Strawberry is a doe, and both Silver and Pipkin are missing (something I do take issue with, but I guess the filmmakers were concerned that too many rabbits would be hard to keep track of). There are also some changes to the plot and timeline, but nothing so major that it kills the spirit of the story or really affects the way things happen. Most wonderfully, Lapine is richly woven into the dialogue in a way that’s both understandable and a wink to those of us who learned the vocabulary through the book!

Twitter has been full of negative comments about the animation, saying that the rabbits look creepy, or not like rabbits at all. But for once, I actually love the choice of this type of animation. It’s not a Disney-like cartoon, but it’s still cute, and you can have your heart melted by fuzzy little rabbits and their cute whiskers. It looks just realistic enough to fully immerse you in a world that looks like the real world, and show you that this isn’t a bunny story for little kids.

The way this mini-series captures Watership Down is incredibly captivating. The amazing score turns what could be a quaint story into an epic journey, and the cinematography is the kind we’re used to seeing in live action movies for adults… allowing us to focus on the different messages the story is conveying in a gripping way. Thanks to the dedication of the filmmakers to make something that far transcends your typical animation both the magical nature of El-Ahrairah’s legends and the fearful tension in Efrafa are perfectly captured.

Hazel, Fiver and Bigwig, along with the other rabbits and characters like Kehaar, are wonderfully represented by a brand new cast. And through excellent animation, it’s easy to forget that it’s John Boyega or James McAvoy who’s speaking (although the moment Peter Capaldi starts speaking as Kehaar is such a fun moment!). The rabbits’ expressions, the look in their eyes and the twitching of their ears all manage to show a wealth of emotions.

I did have some trouble figuring out who is who, though, given that they all look a little too much like real rabbits and kind of blend together. (Some fans have pointed out that these rabbits look more like hares, but while I’m not a biologist or English, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen rabbits like these ones living in the wild when I lived in Europe.)

The countryside is also a character in of itself. In the novel, the geography climate and all the other animals the rabbits interact with are just as important as what the rabbits themselves are doing. Netflix and the BBC have managed to perfectly capture the presence of nature in the story by creating a rich, colorful, animated English countryside — sometimes so accurate that you can recognize individual plants. The result is a world that feels vast, beautiful and full of possibilities… and it’s the perfect stage for a story about rabbits.

In four episodes, this mini-series actually depicts the entire story of Watership Down without rushing through the whole thing, but without dragging it out into non-canon territory, either. Thanks to the pacing of the book, every cut in the narrative between episodes is perfectly placed, and allows for the suspense to build onto the next episode.

This adaptation of Watership Down is very different from the TV show or the film. It uses a new art form, a new style, and a completely different cast in a different decade. And thankfully, this mini-series can stand on its own just like those past adaptations, treating its world and characters with just as much love as those did.

Once again, Netflix has proven that it can make good adaptations happen. This mini-series has the potential to attract new generations to a classic novel, and through its beauty, pay tribute to a wonderful, unique author.