CompleteMartialArts.com - The Wind in the Willows
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List Price: $9.95
Our Price: $14.95
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Good Times Video
Starring: Alan Bennett, Michael Palin, Michael Gambon, Rik Mayall, James Villiers
Directed By: Dave Unwin
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786304288580
Format: Color
ISBN: 6304288581
Label: Good Times Video
Manufacturer: Good Times Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Good Times Video
Release Date: 2001-10-09
Running Time: 73
Studio: Good Times Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1996-12-16
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Editorial Reviews:
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If reading The Wind in the Willows as a child was, for you, an awakening to the near-mystical, make-believe wonders of the natural world, turning a cold shoulder on a video version of the Kenneth Grahame classic may seem to you a necessary measure to avoid memory muddling. Don't. This animated adaptation, gently narrated by Vanessa Redgrave, portrays Moley, Mr. Toad, and the rest of the riverbank battalion tastefully, wittily, and with charm by the bucketsful. True to the tale, these forest chaps are British, right down to their regal accents and suitable degrees of reserve. Lest you should conclude that such characteristics block the lecherous Toad from being a scoundrel or make Mole less of a lovable dimwit, though, the animals' adventures get under way lickety-split. Mole abandons his modest home in favor of an apprenticeship on the ways of the river alongside knowledgeable Rat and, in the movie's sole scary scene, winds up lost in the wild woods; Toad's enthusiasm for motorcars earns him a 20-year sentence and the insult of having to masquerade as a washer woman; and young Portly the otter goes missing, giving everyone a scare. Separating this cartoon caper from the herd is, of course, the writing--"nature kicks off its clothes" as part of the river's "wintertime poetry," and chums are richly celebrated; "In the company of friends," our narrator memorably intones, quoting Grahame, "even the most frugal of feasts is a banquet." Recommended for kids, and grown-ups, 3 and up. --Tammy La Gorce
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Dull
Comment: I was so excited to finally read this classic, and I feel terrible that I found it so dull. I read lots of book to my son I homeschool. We read all levels, but he didn't like it either. I didn't read the whole book. I got about half way until I just couldnt' read it any longer. But, so many people love this book, so if you have never read it go check it out at the library before buying it. I think people either love it or hate it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Complex
Comment: This was a very interesting book. As I read it I felt like Toad was a `Prodigal Son', who came back only far enough to receive acceptance, then returned to his bad habits till he was in trouble again.
It reminded me much of myself, playing at being Christian before really giving Christ all areas of my life. Like Toad I would repent, but then not really change.
Rat was wise and resourceful, Mole was tender and caring and awe-full like a child yet also very wise. Badger is like a wise mature old mentor or guide, sent to give direction, and lead one to find one's own purpose in life.
Yet the mix of Animal and Human society just did not make sense to me. It felt like a badly planned Narnia novel. It did not explain how the animal and human worlds came to interact and share a language or culture.
But over all it was a fun read even if dry in some spots.
(First written as Journal Reading Notes in 1999.)
Customer Rating:
Summary: fun
Comment: This is a fun book, and another for our list of books that we will read often. When we read the chapter on the The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, we were caught up in the
emotion of the quietness and stillness of the event being written about. The book is well written and fun.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Audio Version read by Flo Gibson
Comment: I believe that a narrator can really make an audio book and Flo Gibson does such a fabulous job of the voices of the characters in "The Wind in the Willows". This is one of my son's all time favorite books and audio books. I highly recommend it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS by Kenneth Grahame
Comment: The Wind in the Willows is a children's novel by Kenneth Grahame, and was originally published in 1908. It concerns the doings of four anthropomorphized creatures: Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad. Most of the book involves their day-to-day activities, and there is very little plot to speak of.
The book is quite often tediously slow. No character other than Toad does anything remotely interesting or anything approximating an "adventure". Most of the book involves Mole and Rat puttering around their happy but excruciatingly mundane lives. Those chapters which involve Toad are slightly more interesting. The last chapter of the book has the makings of a full-blown action scene, but Grahame breezes through it in astonishingly short order. The characters are moderately interesting, but three out of the four protagonists are irritatingly melodramatic in their behavior.
Something Grahame has done well is vividly depict the charms of nature and the English countryside. But sometimes he does this too vividly, particularly at the beginnings of chapters, where the reader is often faced with page after page of nothing but description.
The Wind in the Willows is not without its charms, but it isn't particularly interesting.
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