...Well maybe I am a bit biased because I have such a ton of nostalgia for this movie. But I remember being six years old and constantly borrowing this film off my aunt, until she just let me keep it one day. I'm 25 now and all the songs and dialogue have stuck with me vividly ever since. The title song is beautiful, and the rest of the soundtrack is witty and catchy. The animation is perfectly acceptable and has a charm to it, but the main strength of this film is the great voice cast. Whenever I think of Toad, this is the one that comes to mind, wonderfully voiced by Charles Reilly. I thought he was hilarious and lively in his arrogance. Everyone else is just as wonderfully cast in their roles; special mention to Roddy Mcdowall, who is so heartwarming as Ratty. Badger is also a standout, though he is helped by his own song; "I hate company" which is a riot! I honestly can't say enough good things about this film! IMO it captures the spirit of the book best of all the adaptations I've seen. It has a real whimsy to it, and as I said before the theme song by Judy Collins is just beautiful and probably contributes a great deal of it's nostalgic charm for me. You could do far worse than watch this...I highly recommend it if you can get your hands on it. Definitely needs a DVD release pronto. And a soundtrack while they're at it!!
Review of The Wind in the Willows
