Customer Reviews

The Willows in Winter [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The animation is fine, the voices (including narration by Vanessa Redgrave, Michael Palin as Ratty and Michael Gambon as Badger) are fine, but Rik Mayall's Toad is the reason to buy this hilarious video. It's a shame the first in this series (the 1996 "Wind in the Willows") is out of print, because it is equally wonderful. (Don't buy the 1999 re-issue -- it's edited into three "episodes" which are repetitive and sometimes make no sense.) One quibble: live video "framing" the animated movie, though lovely, seems pointless.

I don't know which movie other, negative reviewers watched, but I find it hard to believe it was this one.

My kids love this movie, and have watched it again and again.

All the Wind in the Willows characters are here, and the story line, acting, and animations are just as great as in the first, full-length animation of the original classic, Wind in the Willows.

Get a copy, and have fun.

I love these VHS renditions of The Wind in the Willows and The Willows in the Winter. You couldn't find a more harmless, delightful story to entertain the kids with, especially if you or your children have a literary bent.

This movie lacked the warmth and heart of the previous Wind in the Willows, which is one of my all time favorites. It was a bit disappointing, but it was nice to hear the original cast (= All in all, it was a fairly cute movie when you don't look at it as a follow up to the original.

The Wind in the Willows VHS with Vanessa Redgrave is absolutely great. I'm 42 and it's one of my favorite movies - filled with real humor, believable characters - the movie has a lot of heart and soul.
As for the Willows in Winter, it is the exact opposite. Empty humor, one dimensional characters, harsh voices on some, no heart and soul. Loved the WinW book, but the movie is awful. My children always want to watch Wind in the Willows, but never request the Willows in Winter. I think, I hope, someone will one day produce a wonderful movie for this sequel story, but this is not it.

This movie is a follow up to "The Wind in the Willows" and it was, for me, disappointing.

It falls into the sequel trap ... certain story ideas that were successful in the original are repeated - with less success ... and suffers for it.

The story itself lacks credibility, as if it had not been thought through enough times. Not that a talking rat is credible, but given this flight of fancy, we've come to expect (from the original) believable circumstances and reactions to them.

Oh, we get a good helping of Mr. Toad, and he is in vintage form. And we get a lot of Badger, and that works out OK. But we are short-changed with Rattie, and Molie is just too helpless to believe. Otter is back in his same cameo-type appearance, and his son Portly is a grown otter now, but is made to be incredibly feeble-minded.

I just felt that there was a ton of potential for a sequel (and more there after) to "The Wind in the Willows". There were many stories (and new characters) roaming the woods and riverside ... just waiting to be discovered ... but the movie makers here follow a fairly narrow path that comes to a dead-end. They've left themselves no room to make another one. Oh well.