The Austin Chronicle:
Where did this come from and why haven't we heard about it? More to the point, why haven't all the children of the land been put on full alert? Far and away the best cinematic telling of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 classic, this is that rara avis, the kids film that will be loved equally by adults. I'm not suggesting that anyone over the age of 13 is going to bust a nut on this, but for kids under and adults over, this is the crème de la crème of fanciful, enchantingly surreal filmmaking. And of course, it's also the most complete reunion of the Monty Python troupe in some time, featuring four of the original six cast members (Graham Chapman is, sadly, dead, and Terry Gilliam has gone wonderfully, brilliantly mad and was, one assumes, far too busy to participate). The story of Mole (Coogan), Rat (Idle), Toad (Jones), and Badger (Williamson) and their tussles with the greedy, Thatcheresque Weasels (led by an engagingly nasty Sher) should be familiar to most of us. For those of the Richard Scarey persuasion, the tale involves the attempts of meek Mole and idealistic Rat to convince their friend (and landlord) Mr. Toad to stop wasting all his money on automobiles and other frivolities and pay more attention to the larcenous Weasels, who seek to usurp his manor-- Toad Hall-- steal his land, and bring the countryside to ruin. These days, the story plays as an anti-Tory refrain, although when Grahame first penned it (as in so much 20th-century British literature) Communism was the implied metaphorical menace. But, really, that's all beside the point of this film which seeks, first and foremost, to revel in the wild, wacky, and veddy British tradition of the absurd. To that effect, it succeeds wonderfully. Jones, as Toad, sports a greenish pallor and a garishly rotund waistline; he looks like one of those old turn-of-the-century political cartoons espousing the dangers of gluttony. Indeed, the story hinges on his voracious appetite for the newfangled motorcars (Disney's Mr. Toad's Wild Ride has nothing on this version). Epicurean Idle, the sweet Coogan, and even Williamson as Badger (I'll always think of him as Excalibur's Merlin, though) all give it their best, and the film is chock-a-block with inspired, silly tunes and antic running-about. It's also full of subtle moral lessons, but why tell the kids when they'll probably pick it up subconsciously anyway? Absolutely charming all the way through, its cheeky sense of inspired lunacy is downright contagious: I received a traffic ticket on my drive home and I blame it entirely on Mr. Toad. 3.5 stars.

- Marjorie Baumgarten

The rec.arts.movies.reviews Newsgroup:
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, the new live-action version by the Monty Python gang, is playing now in very limited theatrical distribution in the United States. If it comes to a city near you, as it is now in our area, you'd better see it immediately or it'll be history before you can blink an eye. And being easily one of the most unusual family films in years, you don't want to let this one slip by you. Even if you haven't got any kids - the adults outnumbered the children in our Saturday matinee audience by 10 to 1 - you don't want to miss out on this little delight.
Writer and director Terry Jones sticks fairly close to the story and the cadence of the original Kenneth Grahame novel. And his players approach their parts almost reverentially as befits such a classic. It is not until the movie's midway point, during Toad's trial, that the actors begin to really cut loose with the comedy. Up until then they keep the humor on the subtle side, which is fine since it is in its delicacy and beauty that the film is most effective. If you're looking for a cartoonish action picture, in which stupidity reigns supreme and bonks on the head are the height of comedy, this isn't it.
As filmed by CON AIR's cinematographer David Tattersall, the radiant picture has a golden autumnal look. Every one of the daylight scenes appear to have been filmed when the sun was low on the horizon, basking everything in a loving glow.
THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK's costume designer, James Acheson, came up both with the magical costumes that carefully evoke each actor's animal and with the sets worthy of a Disney theme park attraction. (In fact, those who have been to Disneyland will cherish Mr. Toad's Wild Ride even more after seeing it acted out in the movie.) The evil weasels, for example, have long orange coats and hair, dark elliptical sunglasses, and devilish little mustaches. Toady, played with wild abandon by the film's director and writer Terry Jones, has an overstuffed costume, long narrow shoes, and pond green make-up. And so forth through all of the other animals.
Steve Coogan plays a humble Mole, who starts the story off when the nefarious weasels crush his underground home. Eric Idle is Ratty, whose whiskers fold like an accordion when danger lurks. Nicol Williamson is the take-charge Badger. Antony Sher plays wicked Chief Weasel. John Cleese shows up briefly as Mr. Toad's lawyer at the trial, which is the movie's best scene. (He condemns his own client's wild driving so effectively that all the prosecution wants to do is shake his finger at Toad and go "tsk, tsk, tsk!") Stephen Fry plays the judge in the kangaroo - actually rabbit except for one weasel impersonating a rabbit - court. The judge wants to hang Toady for his reckless driving but settles for 20 years, eventually raised to 100 when Toad goes berserk in court. And finally, Michael Palin is the talking sun.
The basic plot has the weasels conniving to take over Toad's massive ancestral home, the famous Toad Hall. Toady, a classic wastrel, chases one fad after another. His current infatuation is with motor cars, and, being a miserable driver, this becomes quite an expensive hobby for him. Although played fairly straight, the show's outlandish touches, such as Toad's long tongue that he uses to catch flies and even to help him escape, are done sparingly.
The movie has not only dialog but a bit of singing as well. The whole story is developed in such an offbeat and methodical manner that many people, especially kids, may not know quite what to make of it. If they've read the book, it probably helps, but those looking for the traditional movie-going experience may be mystified by this one. For those with an open mind and heart, the picture is a treasure worth savoring. Don't miss this delicate mixture of tenderness and whimsy. If you wait, it'll be gone as fast as Toad in one of his motor cars.
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS runs just 1:20. It is rated PG for fanciful villainy and would be fine for all ages.
My son Jeffrey, almost 9, and his friend George, age 7, thought the film was good, especially the scene in which the heroes dance on the table while punching the weasels. Jeffrey's friend Jessica, almost 9, thought the picture was okay, and said that her favorite part was when Toad dressed up as a woman to escape.

- Steve Rhodes

The San Francisco Chronicle:
``The Wind in the Willows'' is a cheery live-action adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's classic children's book -- and yet this delightful little film from the ``Monty Python'' gang has received almost no theatrical distribution.The movie was originally scheduled as an autumn release by Columbia Pictures. But it was booked in only four U.S. cities, and the studio declined to spend any money to advertise or promote it -- more about that in a minute.

East Bay theater chain owner Allen Michaan obtained a print of ``The Wind in the Willows'' to show as family fare over the holidays at his Oaks Theater in Berkeley. Audiences liked what they saw, and now Michaan, president of the Renaissance Rialto Theatres chain, is opening the film today at the larger Grand Lake in Oakland.
``The Wind in the Willows'' has been a children's literary staple since 1908, part of the colorful British canon that includes ``Winnie the Pooh'' and ``The Tales of Beatrix Potter.'' But ``Wind'' is more challenging. It is two stories in one -- an animal story for children and a satire of British class pretensions filled with alarm about Industrial Age threats to pastoral life.
The characters include a lovable mole, a rambunctious rat and a goofy toad, woodland creatures imbued with quirky human characteristics. The story long defied filmmakers' abilities. But leave it to writer-director Terry Jones to not only tackle it but to cast human actors as the animals.
When machines come to develop the land where Mole lives, his good neighbor Rat and friend Toad quickly see their way of life threatened. They take their case to human court.

Steve Coogan is the lovable Mole, Eric Idle the rambunctious Rat, Jones the goofy Toad, and Anthony Sher and Nicol Williamson are Weasel and Badger. Each riotously takes on the look, gait and gestures of their animal counterparts.

Although John Cleese, as Toad's lawyer, and Michael Palin, as a human embodiment of the sun, are also in the film, ``The Wind in the Willows'' has only a bit of ``Monty Python's'' comedic style. Mostly the film retains Grahame's sensibilities -- it's decidedly British and for sophisticated kids.

In spite of rave reviews, the movie played to disappointing box office in England and in Australia. There, too, it seems, family movies have to be full of special-effects razzle-dazzle to succeed.
That's one reason Columbia Pictures decided not to push the movie with the $10 million advertising and promotional budget that is standard these days to promote any family film for theatrical release, according to Jeff Blake, president of Sony Pictures Releasing.
But there's a bigger reason for the lack of drum beating -- ``Wind'' was originally a Disney movie. Columbia acquired distribution rights as part of an arbitrated award in a lawsuit against Disney. But Disney kept the video rights.
And since promotion for movies in theatrical release has a trickle- down benefit on the later video release, Columbia decided it wasn't sound business to spend millions on ``Willow'' for Disney's benefit.
``It's really unfortunate,'' said Blake. ``It's the odd case where split rights resulted in a low profile. Maybe it will find an audience in the Bay Area, and that would be a happy ending.''
Michaan is determined to build an audience for the movie. At the Oaks, where it is still playing, anyone buying a ``Wind in the Willows'' ticket will get free admission to ``Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
Not too ratty a business, this.

- Peter Stack

Mr. Showbiz:
Today’s children are probably too busy feeding their virtual pets to sit still for a reading of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. So consider the small pleasures of former Monty Python member Terry Jones' faithful cinematic adaptation of the turn-of-the-century classic; it's no Babe but it's still pretty charming, veddy British, and surprisingly full of big laughs.
If your child is at all familiar with the story of the Wind in the Willows, it's probably only from going on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at one of the Disney parks, so here's the gist. Mole (Steve Coogan), a shy, bespectacled fellow, finds himself literally uprooted from his cozy subterranean dwellings by bulldozers. It seems that Toad (Terry Jones), a good-hearted, but impossibly narcissistic, heir to a large fortune has allowed a group of no-good Weasels to exploit the meadow. Toad is oblivious to the weasels’ encroachment of his estate, Toad Hall, because the silly croaker is too caught up in his motorcars. Mole, his loyal friend Rat (Eric Idle), and the dignified, reasonable Badger (Nicol Williamson) team up to teach Toad a lesson and stop the rotten Weasels, led by the Chief (Antony Sher), from usurping Toad Hall.
Ostensibly, the novel is a satire on the English middle class, with Toad representing vanity and self-gratification while his proletariat critter buddies represent hard work and camaraderie. Considering how human their attributes are--Jones has rather daringly made the film in live action--the only things standing in the way of making them people are subtle prosthetics of tails and pointy teeth. While kids might crave bigger effects, it works nicely. James Acheson's costumes and production design are suitably witty but low-key. (I especially liked Mole's home collection of framed epigraphs like "Nothing Is As Dreadful As It Seems" and "What Is Home Without Mother.")
Best of all are the performances. Jones has assembled a first-rate ensemble of British comic actors, including his former Monty Python cohorts Idle, John Cleese as Mr. Toad's very unhelpful lawyer, and Michael Palin as the Sun. (When Mole begs for him not to go down, the Sun says pleasantly, "Sorry. Can't.") Jones himself as the indefatigable Toad-- strutting around, fat, self-important, and choleric green-- is a walking punch line. But the trick to this sometimes infuriating character is that's he's too dumb and bumbling to know he's doing harm; and Jones understands that splendidly. As he screams "Poo! Poo!" to imitate a car horn and belts vaudeville ditties about his greatness, Jones makes Toad a pretty wonderful comic creation. The Wind in the Willows isn't perfect--the climax is more drawn-out than clever and the songs are forgettable--but it's funnier and more mercifully underhyped than most of the flicks you have to drag the little whippers too. You might even get a kick out of it yourself.

- Kevin Maynard

People Magazine:
Jones, formerly of the Monty Python troupe, wrote and directed this adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's classic about the adventures of Mssrs. Mole (Coogan), Rat (Idle) and Badger (Nicol Williamson) in the sun-dappled British countryside. Jones, who himself plays Mr. Toad with a lick of pale green paint across his face, starts things off nicely. With its gentle pace and Edwardian costumes (supplemented as necessary with whiskers, furry ears and tails), Willows suggests an animal fable as told by Merchant-Ivory. But then a league of weasels (led by Anthony Sher) start their takeover of the land. By the time they've bulldozed Mole's hole, assumed control of Toad's ancestral hall, built a dog-food factory and started threatening the riverbank animals with extermination, the movie has become a repulsive parable about Nazis. Why not do Winnie-the-Pooh as the story of Winston Churchill?

The Toronto Sun:
What most differentiates The Wind In The Willows from other so-called family entertainment is a pervasive sense of lunacy.
This is a bit of a Monty Python take on the Kenneth Grahame children's book -- Terry Jones wrote and directed the film and stars as Toad, with Eric Idle in the role of Rat, Michael Palin as a talking Sun and John Cleese in a small bit as Toad's lawyer.
Reading the opening credits is the first big laugh.
Also in the superb cast are Steve Coogan as Mole, Anthony Sher as Chief Weasel, Nicol Williamson as Badger and Stephen Fry in a tiny but perfect part as the judge.
The Wind In The Willows is the story of idyllic riverbank life as it is lived by Rat, Toad, Mole and Badger -- friends all. It's boat trips and picnics and dear little houses.
Mr. Toad's obsession with motor cars is but one part of the story, though it is played up here, as are the weasels.
In this Wind In The Willows, the weasels have a bigger role to play and are responsible for danger and conflict. They are here transformed from the unruly mob of the book to a sort of anti-ecology junk-bond crowd, part Eton, part slug.
They separate Toad from his money and his house, rip up the riverbank and build a menacing dog-food plant.
The first hour of the movie is charming, subversive and often very funny. Then that dog-food plant, with its huge, steel meat-grinding equipment comes up, and with it cliff-hanging rescue scenes, explosions and various deeds of derring-do.
This last 30 minutes looks like too much and too long, but the whole carry-on is just the thing to keep children, and mostly small boys, wide-eyed and happily scared.
There are many other things kids will like about this movie, such as Mole's courage and Badger's ferocity, not to mention a talking horse, a beaming, talking Sun, the way Toad's tongue zaps out to catch flies, the runaway train, the car crashes, the singing and dancing. It's so daft.
There are endless rabbits in The Wind In The Willows, and they are always making out and always a bit dense and that's the sort of joke that keeps accompanying parents amused. Actually, you don't need to bring the kids to this one.
Best of all, the animal characters are created with the simple addition of one or two crucial bits: A tail, whiskers perhaps, ferret teeth. The actors do the rest.
When you watch Eric Idle as Rat, or Steve Coogan as the shy and myopic and entirely mole-like Mole, you'll see how the acting is by far the best special effect in the film.

- Liz Braun

BoxOffice Magazine:
A cute idea is decimated by a mishandled combination of lowbrow farce and sophisticated humor in a strained, leaden lump of tasteless whimsy. The promising notion of turning Kenneth Grahame's classic 1908 children's fable into a Monty Pythonesque comedy collapses due to the cutesy tone and labored development of Terry Jones' screenplay. Although his direction has a distinctive stylistic vision, handsomely visualized, the intended charm and lightness are bludgeoned into terminal infantilism and inane condescension. The slight but endearing tale of the irrepressible Mr. Toad's (played by Jones at his obnoxious worst) dangerous love of fast cars and his relationship with the other local animals has been inflated with statements on greedy capitalism that the script's flimsy structure can't support. The actors miss the simple wonder and beauty of Grahame's creations, notably Eric Idle as Rat and Steve Coogan as Mole. Only Nicol Williamson's Badger comes close to achieving his character's essential delicacy and warmth.

- Dale Winogura

Film Journal:
Monty Python's Terry Jones and a stellar cast turn Kenneth Grahame's 1908 classic of children's literature into a movie classic for children and the young at heart. This delightful adaptation utilizes song and dance, special effects, and good, old-fashioned chase scenes to dramatize the exploits of Toad, Mole, Rat and Badger in the English countryside.
Director Terry Jones fills the current void in family entertainment with his witty and whimsical version of Kenneth Grahame's children's classic, The Wind in the Willows. Along with a number of his Monty Python cohorts, he infuses this Edwardian paean to friendship and nature with zany humor and childlike innocence. Just hearing timid Mole, played winningly by Steve Coogan, affectionately address Eric Idle's earnest Rat as "Ratty" is enough to plant a feature length smile on your face.
Wisely eschewing elaborate animal costumes, Jones and his production and costume designer, James Acheson, go for country gentlemen's attire with creature accents, such as huge jodhpurs and pale green makeup for Jones' flamboyant Toad, and cricket whites and whiskers that crinkle under duress for Rat. Mole's baggy corduroys define him as much as his snub nose and tiny, steel rimmed glasses.
Not since Mary Poppins has a movie as effectively conjured the magic of a fairytale England, with idyllic countrysides and lovable, eccentric characters. Incredibly, Jones maintains this lyric tone throughout, avoiding both sentimentality and camp. The marvelous cast, including Nicol Williamson as the intimidating Badger, Antony Sher as the sinuously evil Chief Weasel, and John Cleese in top form as Toad's lawyer from hell, play it deliciously straight.
Jones, who also wrote the screenplay, expands the adventure element of the original by creating a pack of treacherous yuppie Weasels who plot to destroy the peaceful estate of Toad Hall and turn it into a Weasels-only industrial wasteland. Mole, Rat and Badger band together to protect their homes and their pastoral way of life, but their primary obstacle turns out to be their good friend Toad, an amusing but self indulgent spendthrift with a passion for that newfangled invention, the motorcar. Toad slowly gives up Toad Hall to the Weasels in exchange for money to buy more cars, which he totals in less time than it takes him to snag a bug with his lengthy, prehensile tongue (a nice special effect). But, unlike The Cherry Orchard, this tale has a happy ending.
Among the film's most delightful conceits are Michael Palin as a talking sun who, with all due apologies to Toad (with whom he is conversing), must set; and the casual display of properly dressed couples with bunny ears and cotton tails making out along the lush hillsides. There is also a poignant clock with a human face buried in the rubble of Mole's Weasel destroyed home, who can barely mouth "tea time" anymore.
Some of the film's action scenes drag on a little long, such as Toad, Mole and Rat's unintentional hijacking of a train, but, for the most part, they are cleverly done. With its affecting score, original production numbers and vibrant color, The Wind in the Willows creates a make believe world that is hard to leave.

- W.W.

The Orange County Register:
Inevitably, in every season, there are movies bound to be overlooked. But it's disconcerting when that situation is encouraged by a distributor's apparent indifference to its own film. And it's dismaying when you realize that that indifference is more a reaction to perceived lack of public interest in quality filmmaking than anything else.
The movie that prompts this reflection is the new film version of ``The Wind in the Willows,'' Kenneth Grahame's children's classic, which has been brought to the screen with a great deal of charm, wit and skill by former Monty Python member Terry Jones.
Jones has had a hand in directing the Python films (including ``Monty Python and the Holy Grail''), but the likable helter- skelter shape of those outings is no preparation for Jones' newest. This ``Wind'' has been beautifully, meticulously designed to reflect the book's Edwardian roots. An idealized English countryside is populated by Mr. Mole (Steve Coogan), Mr. Rat (fellow Pythoner Eric Idle), Mr. Badger (Tony Award-winning Nicol Williamson) and Toad (Jones), whose period costumes are only lightly adorned with animal-suggestive makeup (Rat has a tail and whiskers, Toad not much more than a huge girth and greenish skin). The evil Weasels who are Toad's main nemesis look almost like Teddy boys, with high-collared coats, brushed- back hair and sunglasses.
But don't get the idea that this picturesque design (production and costume design) is cutesy- precious. While hewing to Grahame's tone, the film features plenty of cheeky comedy, including Toad's trial, where John Cleese plays a defense attorney infuriated by his client. Stephen Fry (Jeeves of ````Masterpiece Theater's'' ``Jeeves and Wooster'') plays a sputtering judge. The movie also features Pythoner Michael Palin as the sun.
All in all, this is about as perfect an adaptation of a wonderful classic as you can imagine. But the movie is opening on 65 screens nationwide, according to a report in Friday's Daily Variety (O.C. residents can see the movie in Fullerton, Buena Park, Laguna Hills and Santa Ana, which gives them more opportunities than most), and the press screening was held on a Thursday afternoon, which meant effectively that most papers wouldn't have a review in their Friday papers.
Probably, though, the distributor was responding to the perceived weakness for this kind of fare in the marketplace. It seems that any kids' film that features cartoonish violence and plenty of flatulence jokes is going to do a fair share of business. But movies that appeal to people of all ages, even if their source is in children's literature or fantasy, are going to be ignored.
``A Little Princess,'' for example, is one of the outstanding Hollywood films of the decade, but it was a box office wipeout. The intelligently crafted and beguiling ``Fairy Tale : A True Story'' is doing so-so business. No doubt ``The Wind in the Willows'' will follow suit. But if you want to expose your children and yourself to a first-rank motion picture, you should see it before it disappears.

- Henry Sheehan

Movie Magazine International:
Nothing is as desperate as it seems. So reads the motto on Mole's mantelpiece as Terry Jones's classic-to-be musical version of "The Wind in the Willows" begins. It's a premise that Mole and his pals, Ratty, Badger, and Toad will soon be called upon to prove as they test their mettle and their friendship against a remorseless enemy bent on destroying their homes and picnic-taking way of life.
Those enemies are the weasels who have, well, weaseled their way into ownership of Toad's meadow and are plotting to reduce his estate and the surrounding parkland into an industrial wasteland unless Mole and company can save the day.
The rendering is clever. The actors, Jones as Toad, Eric Idle as Ratty, Nicol Williamson as Badger, Steve Coogan as mole and Anthony Sher as the head weasel inhabit an Edwardian fantasy world of swallowtail coats and straw boaters. Instead of being encased in layers of makeup, animal natures are suggested with brilliant touches. Prehensile whiskers and a tail for Ratty, green coloring and body language for Toad, thick spectacles and oversize coat for Mole. My favorite was Sher and company sporting sinister pompadours, vicious prosthetic teeth, and red gloves.
There are some gags aimed more at grown-ups, particularly during Toad's trial with Stephen Fry as a hanging judge and John Cleese as a less than supportive defense attorney. And will kids pick up on the fact that the weasel's flags have a decidedly Nazi look? No. Will it matter? Double no!!!
For some reason, which your humble correspondent cannot fathom, Sony, which owns the U.S. distribution of this film is doing as little as possible to bring it to a theater near you. Here is an entirely charming rendition of a children's classic, done with sly wit and enormous respect for the source material and the chance of it being seen in theaters is virtually nil. Which brings me back to the motto on Mole's mantle. Things are never as desperate as they seem. You can make your voice heard. E-mail Sony at callback@sonypic.com or contact them through their website at www.spe.sony.com and let them know that you'd like to see "The Wind in the Willows" on the big screen.

- Andrea Chase (2/4/98)