Original Air Date: December 23, 2018

Directed by: Noam Murro

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains spoilers for this episode!

Synopsis: A computer animated television mini-series of Richard Adams’ novel finds a group of rabbits looking for a new home.

Cartoon Cats: The first episode, The Journey, begins with the background of the rabbit’s belief system with Lord Frith taking action against El-ahrairah the Prince of Rabbits to keep their population under control. Lord Frith creates the animals which hunt the rabbits, including the cat. The cat’s gift is that of silent feet. The cat is represented with shadow puppets along with the other animals in this opening.

In the second episode, The Raid, Hazel (voiced by James McAvoy) leads Fiver (voiced by Nicholas Hoult) and Bigwig (John Boyega) to the farm to try to release the female rabbits from their hutch. Bigwig is standing watch but doesn’t hear the farm cat until he pounces.

The cat fights with Bigwig before going after the other rabbits, keeping them from freeing the females. The woman from the house screams about “that blooming cat” as the wild rabbits retreat. (The cat is only ever referred to as “Puss” by the farm lady).

Later in the episode, Hazel returns to the farm, this time entering the house where the hutch has been moved. He has to pass by Puss who is sleeping in a basket by the fire. He doesn’t notice the cat awakening behind him.

Puss suddenly appears and attacks Hazel but Bigwig jumps out and knocks the cat aside.

Fiver joins them as the cat jumps up to a high shelf and bumps into a vase. Getting an idea, the cat knocks the vase off the shelf, alerting the woman of the escaping rabbits.

The rabbits run through the house, trying to find a way out. They go upstairs and find an open window. Puss is right behind them.

Jumping down onto a glass sunroom, the rabbits scramble to keep from sliding off. The cat leaps at Bigwig and they both roll down the roof. The cat falls off right in front of the tethered farm dog, scaring Puss away.

In the fourth episode, The Siege, Hazel and Fiver return to the farm with the idea of releasing the dog and leading him to the warren to chase away the rabbits from Efrafa. Fiver is chewing on the dog’s rope when he spots Puss looking down from the roof at Hazel.

Thumping a warning, the dog awakens as Puss pounces at Hazel. Fiver is knocked unconscious by the dog’s lead. Puss takes advantage of this and leaps onto Fiver. Hazel is hesitant to leave but Fiver urges him to go. When the dog’s rope breaks, Hazel leads him away. We don’t find out the fate of Fiver until he returns to the warren, saying the farm girl Lucy saved him from the cat.

The violence has been greatly toned down for this version although this is still not a story for very small children. The animation is somewhat offputting, being a little too realistic and yet somehow not realistic enough. And it’s interesting to note that the cat does not speak to the rabbits in this version. It tells the story adequately but loses the charm of the original version.

Final Mewsings: Cats deserve to be animated a bit better than this.

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