The 7minute clip from the end of Watership Down is extremely disturbing. It has detailed, violent fighting scenes, showing horrific and bloody deaths. The fact that this is animated makes it slightly less frightening, but the choice of rabbits as characters may upset children as they see rabbits as friendly animals, and possibly loved pets. The sequence we watched was 7minutes long, and it was a horrific scene. Unlike the PG specifications, it was not short, and it was very intense. The only redeeming factor was that it did eventually reach a satisfying (not so much reassuring!) conclusion. There was no reference to weapons, drugs or sex but the detail of the violence and horror makes it hard to see how it can be justified to be a suitable film for children - meaning that it should not be classed below a 12 rating.
Strangely, this film was actually rated a U in 1979 when it was released. It may be that the majority of the film was not as disturbing, and it is likely that the classification criteria was very different to what is acceptable nowadays. It could be that what people found disturbing in that time is different to now, showing how subjective this is.
I watched this film loads of times when I was younger and I loved it. The specific scene that you are on about was a little scary for me but without it, there wouldn't have been a story quite like it. I think they are trying to get across the fact that not all bunnies are cute and cuddly, You also get the baddies too, Which is what it is like in the real world, Not all humans are good people! I don't think there should be an age rating, and what 12 year old would watch an animated cartoon about rabbits?
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