Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (2004, DVD)

I have a confession to make. I last read Wind in the Willows something 50-odd years ago, and my memory of plot details is consequently rather hazy. (Questions in this regard seem less important to me than the directly personal ones, such as Where am I? ) In further consequence, I can t do my favorite rant about how terribly the film has deviated from the source. Luckily, there is on this site a fine review by jenscookie (http://www.epinions.com/content_6603378308) that covers this area with wonderfully venomous detail. I commend it to you. I do also have William Horwood s last-century sequel to Wind , Toad Triumphant , but haven t yet read it.

The Monty Python crowd didn t invent modern sketch comedy Sid Caesar and Ernie Kovaks did that but they perfected it. They also did a lot of movie-making together, extending the craziness of their sketches to feature length without even slightly weakening it. There were of course the Python-flicks proper ( Holy Grail , Life of Brian , all that). However, collaboration continued for years, involving at least 2 Pythons and usually 3 or 4 ( Erik the Viking , Yellowbeard , Jabberwocky , all that). One of these was often the writer, frequently the brilliant Terry Gilliam who is missing from Mr. Toad s Wild Ride . Terry Jones wrote the screenplay here, and we may no doubt attribute much of the extensive trampling of Mr. Grahame s original that takes place to his taking a Python s-eye view of the plot. That may help explain it, but it doesn t excuse it. Be that as it may, I m going to review the film (aside from the occasional mean jab) as a thing aside from the book. As I mention members of the cast, *Pythons* will be indicated by *asterisks*.

Wind in the Willows (1996) is a live-action film, unlike most films on this subject, which are animated. It was produced by Disney, which also produced an earlier animated production ( Wind in the Willows ). It follows the book more closely and is one of the studio s cleverest products.

The great charm of the live production is the make-up jobs on the animal characters. Toad, with a greenish skin and costumed to suggest a toadlike shape, is particularly effective. Animals with tails are given appropriate ones. Rat and the various weasels have long whiskers extending out of mustaches. The weasels also have headsful of lush red hair that provides a very weasely effect. Check out the dental work on Rat, the weasels, Mole, and Badger all very rodentesque. The rabbits, aside from great ears, are shown in considerable numbers, pairing off in bushes, hay, long grass, and just about everywhere else. The animals interact successfully with humans, being about the same size. The world of the animals is divided into 3 zones: the river and its banks (where most of the main characters live), the forest wild (home of Badger and the weasels), and the wide world beyond. The rabbits, it should be noted, are terrorized and more or less enslaved by the weasels.

The film opens in the underground home of Mole (Steve Coogan), a dedicated homebody. The time is about 1910. Mole s peace is soon disrupted by the collapse of his roof, an event brought about by earth-moving equipment operated by (as we eventually learn) the evil weasels. He flees to the river, where he encounters Rat (*Eric Idle*) getting ready for a boating picnic. (The book opens a lot less traumatically, with the actual boating.) Rat, initially more impressed with his picnic plans than with Mole s plight, eventually agrees they should go to see Toad.

Thaddeus Toad (*Terry Jones*), master of Toad Hall, owns the meadow Mole s home is in and is reckoned the most important person on the riverbank. Toad, however, is actually a wastrel spendthrift, dropping all his late father s massive savings on one fad after another. He has no self-control whatsoever. His current craze is the caravan , a sort of horse-drawn RV. He s totally unimpressed by Rat s picnic plans and even less concerned for Mole s homelessness. They finally agree to go with him but his caravan is run off the road by a motor car. This is his first encounter with such a contraption and it makes him forget all about caravans and develop a mania for Bentleys and Stutz-Bearcats.

To say that Jones plays Toad to perfection is to understate the case. He is Toad. The gait, the stance, every move defines what a shallow, self-important Toad must be. Jones even gives the facial impression that his mouth can open into a toad s maw. He s just so so so toady.

Toad is a terrible and careless driver far more dangerous in an auto than in any other vehicle. His specialty: the head-on collision. In one of his cars, with Rat and Mole aboard, he loses his passengers and then almost succeeds in taking out a tree. Mole runs into the Chief Weasel (Anthony Sher, his 2 chief henchmen, and several of his minions. They sing a number about how dangerous the world with, accompanied by choreography and special effects. The weasels then go on to menace Toad. (They working on exacerbating Toad s cupidity regarding autos, hoping he ll bankrupt himself and lose Toad Hall to them.)

Mole, Rat, and eventually Toad wind up the tree-trunk home of the reclusive Badger (the always impressive Nicol Williamson). Badger, a close friend of Tode p re, is an informal guardian to Toad fils. His attempts to reform Toad fail, so he, Rat, and Mole transport the unfortunate amphibian back to Toad Hall, where they place him under house arrest and under guard. Nevertheless, Toad eventually gives Rat the slip and goes to an inn where he promptly purloins a car and just as promptly smashes it to smithereens.

Toad goes to trial. This opens with a barrister (*John Cleese*) haranguing the court about the heinousness of Toad s crimes and the severity of his consequent punishment. This in a very Pythonesque twist based on one of their best sketches turns out to be defense! The judge (the brilliantly funny Stephen Fry) tries to see if there is any actual defense, to which Cleese becomes even more abusive of his client. The jury (11 rabbits and the Chief Weasel disguised as a rabbit) do what the ringer rabbit tells them, and finds Toad guilty and Fry gives him 20 years. Toad then addresses the court in a speech and performance so wonderfully outrageous that he s sentenced to 100 years in jail.

The weasels then move into Toad Hall, evicting Rat and Mole. They don t actually own it, but who s to challenge them? On the way out, Rat & Mole are left alone for a bit. Rat notices a lot of barrels labeled Bones and Dynamite . He switches the labels. Clever, if not in the book.

Toad, in jail, is contrite but on the alert for the main chance. He befriends the tea lady who (without reason) helps him to escape in disguise. Rat and Mole, who are tunneling in to rescue Toad, just miss him. Later meeting up, they manage to board a train, with the police in hot pursuit. After a number of funny misadventures, Toad is left in sole possession of the detached engine. His speed mania takes over and of course leaves the track at 125 (or so) miles per hour. Trudging toward Toad Hall, he has a conversation with the sun (*Michael Palin*), who is at pains to point out his faults, just as he s in pain to ignore them. (Palin also does the voice of Rat in a 1995 animated version discussed at the end of this review.) Toad then meets the weasels, who escort him to Toad Hall. Rat and Mole, meanwhile, find Badger, whose home has been damaged by the weasels and their construction equipment. They set out for Toad Hall.

The film then divides essentially between 2 locations, one from the book and one from Terry Jones imagination. The 2nd location takes place in a dog food factory built next to Toad Hall. It sports a giant mincing machine full of gears and teeth into which the chief weasel proposes to throw Toad, Rat, Mole, and Badger. There s a struggle and a good bit of tension, during which the weasels are minced (not in any graphic sense) by their own machine and Toad and his friends save themselves.

The 1st location is Toad Hall itself, where the weasels are having a huge celebratory party. Hanging over this is the Chief Weasel s plan to blow up the Hall the next day (Terry Jones adding tension). The Chief s 2, main henchmen blow him up (but not fatally) with a booby-trapped birthday cake. Each then turns on the other and civil war erupts among the weasels. Toad and his companions arrive and begin to fight the weasels until they realize the evil rodents are fighting each other. They then stand on a table and sing whilst the weasels put themselves out of the way.

At a subsequent party, a contrite Toad promises to be better. Well, seemingly contrite. He s just got a new craze and bought an aeroplane. In the closing credits, he flies about the country without hitting anything!

Despite the wide deviations from the book, this is a very funny picture. In addition, as is so often not the case, the various deviations contrive to form a harmonious whole with the original material. In consequence, the weasels cease to be merely wicked and become positively evil.

There are excellent production values in this film, with fine sets and enthusiastic performances even in minor roles. Although I haven t paid attention to my own stricture, it s obvious that reading the book is the best balance to the changes in this film. There are also filmed versions that would do the same thing, particularly a 1995 animated version narrated by Vanessa Redgrave beautifully done, indeed. It s also followed by a sequel, The Willows in Winter .