film for offering an "unusually thoughtful" alternative to Disney animated films of the era: "Watership Down arose in that extended lull between Disney's heyday and its late-Eighties resurrection. ... Watership Down points to the dwindled potential for American animation to evolve into what anime has become: a mature medium for artistic expression of serious issues." Chaw commended the film's frankness, honesty, and themes of friendship and loyalty, concluding that, in spite of the film's violent elements, "the picture may be more appropriate for young children than a legion of condescendingly sugarcoated Disney fare." Effects on children and BBFC classification Watership Down has developed a reputation as a distressing children's text, with Ed Power of The Independent describing the film in a 40th anniversary retrospective as a "classic" but which "arguably traumatised an entire generation". In 2016, the British broadcaster Channel 5 faced criticism after broadcasting the film in a pre-watershed slot on Easter Sunday, which was seen to be in poor taste due to the film's representations of violence inflicted upon rabbits, and with many people on social media expressing concern about child viewers being distressed (though it is unclear whether any children were actually negatively affected). Despite the criticism, Channel 5 broadcast Watership Down on Easter Sunday again the following year. Despite the film's reputation as traumatising, regulators and critics in 1978 expressed little concern about the film's potentially negative effects on children. When the film was first submitted to the British Board of Film Classification, the BBFC passed the film with a 'U' certificate (suitable for all ages), deciding that "Animation removes the realistic gory horror in the occasional scenes of violence and bloodshed, and we felt that, while the film may move children emotionally during the film's duration, it could not seriously trouble them once the spell of the story is broken, and that a 'U' certificate was therefore quite appropriate." This choice has been quite controversial though, and in 2012, the BBFC acknowledged that it had "received complaints about the suitability of Watership Down at 'U' almost every year since its classification". In 2022, the BBFC re-classified the film with a PG rating for "mild violence, threat, brief bloody images, language". Like the BBFC, film critics in 1978 characterised Watership Down as suitable for children in spite of its potentially distressing aspects. The Spectators Ted Whitehead described it as "a straightforward children's adventure story". Scott in