Watership Down science fiction writer and conservative social commentator writing in the "National Review", declared that the novel was "pleasant enough, but it has about the same intellectual firepower as Dumbo." He pilloried it further: ""Watership Down" is an adventure story, no more than that: rather a swashbuckling crude one to boot. There are virtuous rabbits and bad rabbits: if that’s allegory, "Bonanza" is an allegory." John Rowe Townsend notes that the book quickly achieved such a high popularity despite the fact that it "came out at a high price and in an unattractive jacket from a publisher who had hardly been
Watership Down (film) and disturbing imagery should have resulted in at least a 'parental guidance' rating. Some places like Quebec have given the film a G rating as well; however, in places like the United States, Australia, and Ireland, the film was rated PG due to the film's violence and disturbing imagery. A picture book of the animated film was also produced, titled "The Watership Down Film Picture Book". Two editions of the book were published, one a hard-cover, the other a reinforced cloth-bound edition. The contents include stills from the film linked with a combination of narration and extracts from the script,