The Wind in the Willows

Monty Python’s Terry Jones wrote and directed this brilliant and gorgeous adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s the Wind In the Willows back in the 1990’s. It’s one of those films that went through distribution hell, getting picked up- and subsequently shelved- by Disney for whatever Mickey Mouse reason, where it received almost no theatrical release (check Wikipedia for the sad details on this.)

Nevertheless, it was eventually released on DVD with little fanfare, which is too bad- because this is probably the greatest post-Python achievement by anyone not named Terry Gilliam. It’s certainly Terry Jones’ greatest moment, which makes the obscurity of The Wind In the Willows (or, as Disney renamed it, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride) that much sadder. So do your cinephile duty and watch this wonderful, brilliant, all-ages production starring Steve Coogan and those lovable- and rapidly disappearing from Earth- Pythons.