Fantastic!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I liked most of the character designs (some of the artwork reminded me of the Rackham illustrations) and the voicework, the music was OK too, never too foreground. The backgrounds in contrast are rather pedestrian and rarely manage to convey the atmosphere of the story. The animation suffers from uneven dynamic.My biggest nitpick, though, concerns the overall rhythm - some scenes like the Pan episode (which always seemed very central to me) are dealt with in a near offhand way, while Toad's exploits are given too much room (maybe, it's all a matter of taste, of course).Still recommended as it's surely one of the better adaptions of the book out there (I have to admit I have seen only a few of them, there seem to be more than ten, some rather hard to lay your hands on)

I was getting along swimmingly with the river characters, and those of the deep, dark woods as well. I enjoyed the characters of Mole, Rat and Badger very much. The illustration was also very well done, through-out. I enjoyed the choice of colors.Unfortunately, at a certain point, it seemed that this story was going to be focused primarily on loud, narcissistic, vain, boisterous Toad. Now, while I'll freely admit that one meets all types at a riverbank, or in the mansions there-upon, the serenity of the story was shredded by this agitating, impulsive amphibian.For me, it ruined the whole story, and I was unable to watch past the point where Toad was preparing for his "song" at the party, having, with the help of his friends, chased the ferrets, stoats and weasels out of his ornate, voluminous abode. In contrast to other animated features, such as Watership Down, The Wind In The Willows seems to have been written with much more coarse excitement and soft violence. I regret that this otherwise-charming story fell victim to our frenetic, aggressive way of life.I heard nary a wind, and saw bare-little Willow. The story needs to be re-written with Toad intermittently appearing, returning from his various and sundry jaunts and sojourns, with something valuable to add to the enjoyment and education of Mole, Rat, and Badger, or whomever else he should meet. Juxta-pose and integrate him with Badger and create some balance.., maybe even some poetry.

Having now watched various versions of WITW with my 3 year old son, this was undoubtedly the best of the bunch for both of us, as well as being the most faithful adaptation, and captures the very special and very English magic of the book.Right from the start a warm elegiac mood and feel is achieved, and the voices of the four leading characters are all excellently cast. We especially loved Alan Bennet, who for me made Mole come fully alive for the first time, and manages to very subtly inject real humour into his delivery. Messrs Gambon (Badger) and Mayall (Toad), were also perfect.A perfect way to spend a cosy Sunday afternoon curled up with young (or indeed not so young) family.

The colours and animation on this are beautiful, some of the best I've seen. The dramaturgy is lacklustre, only the action sequences have any zing. But you'll enjoy seeing animation the way it should be done ( also check out Watership Down and Animal Farm (1954), not to mention Fantasia.