▁Rosen ▁who ▁thereby ▁made ▁his ▁director ial ▁debut . ▁ ▁After ▁the ▁gen esis ▁story , ▁which ▁was ▁rendered ▁in ▁a ▁narr ated ▁simple ▁cart oon ▁fashion , ▁the ▁animation ▁style ▁changes ▁to ▁a ▁detailed , ▁natural istic ▁one . ▁There ▁are ▁con cess ions ▁to ▁render ▁the ▁animals ▁anth rop omorphic ▁only ▁to ▁suggest ▁that ▁they ▁have ▁human ▁voices ▁and ▁minds , ▁some ▁fa cial ▁expressions ▁for ▁em otion , ▁and ▁p aw ▁gest ures . ▁The ▁animation ▁background s ▁are ▁water colors . ▁Only ▁one ▁of ▁the ▁pred ators , ▁the ▁farm ▁cat ▁Tab , ▁is ▁given ▁a ▁few ▁lines , ▁the ▁rest ▁remaining ▁m ute . ▁ ▁The ▁background s ▁and ▁locations , ▁especially ▁E f raf a ▁and ▁the ▁nearby ▁railway , ▁are ▁based ▁on ▁the ▁diag rams ▁and ▁maps ▁in ▁Richard ▁Adams ' s ▁original ▁novel . ▁Most ▁of ▁the ▁locations ▁in ▁the ▁movie ▁either ▁exist ▁or ▁were ▁based ▁on ▁real ▁sp ots ▁in ▁Ham pshire ▁and ▁surrounding ▁areas . ▁ ▁Although ▁the ▁film ▁is ▁fairly ▁faithful ▁to ▁the ▁novel , ▁several ▁changes ▁were ▁made ▁to ▁the ▁story line , ▁mainly ▁to ▁decrease ▁over ly ▁detailed ▁complexity ▁and ▁improve ▁the ▁pace ▁and ▁flow ▁of ▁the ▁plot . ▁In ▁addition , ▁the ▁order ▁in ▁which ▁some ▁events ▁occur ▁is ▁re - arr anged . ▁Un like ▁many ▁animated ▁features , ▁the ▁film ▁faith fully ▁em ulated ▁the ▁dark ▁and ▁violent ▁s oph istic ation ▁of ▁the ▁book . ▁As ▁a ▁result , ▁many ▁review ers ▁took ▁to ▁warning ▁parents