Rankin Bass' The Wind in the Willows

Let’s review their very last none-holiday film with The Wind in the Willows.

James Thaddeus Toad of Toad Hall has a mania onto various things starting with a steam boat. His mania is causing chaos onto his town without him realizing it, as it brings Ratty on his boat and Moley at his hole together. Ratty and Moley go through the riverside, as they came across a literally direct less Toad in his steam boat to crash through them.

Ratty and Moley continue at a different boat to come across Badger (voiced by Jose Ferrer), as they would stop at Toad Hall where Toad is.

Toad spots a motorcar as it became his new mania for one that he bought a motorcar as he made more unintentional chaos onto his neighborhood. In fact, Toad kept buying cars after cars after destroying them in Jackass style stunts.

Badger blocks Toad’s allowance and tries to repent Toad, but repenting means nothing outside of his room. So they locked Toad in his room, but he escaped to get to a motorcar by any means including stealing. So the court gleefully yet echoing state their verdict that Toad is guilty and thrown in the dungeon for 20 years. While he’s gone, the Weasels suddenly took over Toad Hall to mostly trash his place.

Is Toad redeeming himself, and can we tolerate him any longer through his mania and personality?

I have briefly seen this film when Nickelodeon used to air any animated film that isn’t related to a Nicktoon. I mostly refuse to watch it when it was on, mostly because I don’t want to watch film that Disney already did their version without the constant reminder of the better known adaption. I didn’t know back then this was a Rankin Bass film. I was going to skip this film since there’s no complete film version online, but there’s piece of them in youtube, and I found the full version in German. Since I know the story going in, I’m OK watching the German dubbed as long I got English clips involved.

Toad is voiced by Charles Nelson Reilly; you may know his voice as Humpty Dumpty in Toby Bluth’s Babes In Toyland,

Humpty: When you grown my dear, and are as old as I…

The Goblin King in… (Labyrinth. Ha ha ha, very funny, jerks. No this one isn’t even that.) A Troll in Central Park….

Llort: I know a place of rock and steel, and nothing grows.

Duke of Owl’s nephew in Rock-A-Doodle…

Hunch: Uncle Dukey, Uncle Dukey!!

and…

“Shut up, Killer!”

-Carface voiced by Vic Tayback from All Dogs Go To Heaven.

Yep, Killer from All Dogs Goes To Heaven. As unique and entertaining he is, he’s better as side character in small dosage than a main character. Yes he’s fitting for the character, but it’s funny that the Disney version has common sense to not steal a car, thus would have some innocent backing. This Toad is a crazy jerk and he wouldn’t defend him in court.

This is the rare case where the tone of the film is fighting against each other. Toad wants it a wild comedy, the opening and Ratty wants a relaxing tone, Badger wants a dramatic, and the music numbers just break the film entirely. There are about 7, including the opening; all but two of them mean little to nothing. One is about rowing, Toad’s little food, Toad riding, and Weasels partying at Toad Hall, even a court has a song. We know Toad is guilty of simply crashing a stolen car, but why stop there?

“He’s guilty of mayhem, exposer indecent. Freak out behavior both chronic and recent. Drinking and driving narcotic possession, and that’s page one of his ten page confession! “

-The cast of Steppin Out, in the Simpsons.

It’s very strange that the Disney version has less musical moments than this one, and they have one and half; those halves are Christmas caroling and New Years music. One of the characters that were dropped was Cyril Proudbotton the Horse and was reduced to being a regular horse with a canary yellow gypsy cart, though to be fair, that was a Disney exclusive character, yet made sense that all animals speak than all but a horse. Even more strange that Disney would something similar when they made a live-action version with Mr. Toad Wild Ride. That film isn’t any better, and that has everyone’s favorite villain song, The Secret of Survival.

As for the other characters, Roddy McDowell is a good rat and the design looks like an actual rat. Speaking of actual, Jose Ferrer as Badger is the best Badger I’ve seen and heard. His voice is mighty good, and he does look like an actual Badger, unlike McBadger who looks like human badger. Most of the animals in design look passable, except for Moley; he looks creepy. Eddie Bracken voices Moley, who you know him as Mr. Duncan of Home Alone 2. This is at this point that is this is the only one animated by Cuckoo’s Nest Studio (who mostly animated Hanna Babera shows, Warner Bros show, and got doomed when they did Mulan 2 and Universal’s Brer Rabbit), the last to feature Jose Ferrer since Little Drummer Boy, and the very last time from them we hear from Paul Frees as the Sea Rat, as he died in 1986, and the film was previously recorded in 1985 and delayed after his death. It was the last in Rankin Bass, his very last was voicing a T-rex with Gumby in The Puppetoons Movie.

Overall, Rankin Bass’ Wind In The Willow is fluff of a mess for me. There’s little that can save, but it’s not enough. Not ordinary is that they did a TV show of Mr. Toad with each episode having to deal with different mania, while packaged with another Kenneth Grahame, Redundant Dragon. That could have worked for a short series, with a chance of getting old! So the limit for Mr. Toad story is best under half an hour.   

What a shame to end the holiday special on the Wind and the Willow’s note by struggling to be noticed, which that’s sadly to sum it up. Made worst if I did included the animated King and I. They have made the second complete stop-motion film with Willy McBean, but it wasn’t widely known, and with the stereotype doesn’t help to get a wider audience. They try to work stop-motion with live action integrate with the story with Daydreamer, yet time limits, location, and the main actor’s puberty would work against them. Many of the specials would either rely on the actors playing themselves or fairy tales. The Hobbit films were the different exception. Rather if it was the studio interference or lighting strike once for The Hobbit and misses Return of the King, it was hard for them to continue to the point they would carry the atmosphere and tone into their later films and work for fantasy, but not enough.

The regular, Easter, and barely Halloween magic can work few times. It’ll take a different kind of magic to ever attach people and became everlasting for years to come. So long non-holiday Rankin Bass, and we should say hello to Rankin Bass Christmas Specials. The specials that have put their name better on the map.