The Wind in the Willows ( 1996 film ) - wikipedia The Wind in the Willows ( 1996 film ) This article 's lead section does not adequately summarize key points of its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. Please discuss this issue on the article 's talk page. ( May 2017 ) The Wind in the Willows UK DVD front cover Directed by Terry Jones Produced by Jake Eberts John Goldstone Screenplay by Terry Jones Based on The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame Starring Steve Coogan Eric Idle Terry Jones Antony Sher Nicol Williamson John Cleese Michael Palin Stephen Fry Bernard Hill Julia Sawalha Music by John Du Prez Cinematography David Tattersall Edited by Julian Doyle Production company Allied Filmmakers Distributed by Columbia Pictures Pathé Release date 18 October 1996 ( 1996 - 10 - 18 ) ( UK ) Running time 87 minutes Country United Kingdom Language English Budget £ 9.75 million Box office £ 1.303 million The Wind in the Willows ( released in the United States as Mr Toad 's Wild Ride ) is a 1996 British children 's comedy film written and directed by Terry Jones, and produced by Jake Eberts and John Goldstone. The film stars Steve Coogan, Eric Idle and Terry Jones. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 18 October 1996. The film is based on Kenneth Grahame 's novel The Wind in the Willows. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Songs featured in the film 4 Production 4.1 Filming and locations 5 Distribution problems in the U.S. 6 Reception 6.1 Box office 6.2 Critical response 7 References 8 External links Plot Mole 's underground home is destroyed when the meadow above is bulldozed by the Weasels. Mr Toad, had sold the land to finance his latest fad : caravanning. Mole meets the Water Rat. Seeing Mole 's distress, Rat takes Mole to see Toad. Toad encourages them to join them in his newly bought horse - drawn caravan. A speeding motor car frightens the horse, tipping the caravan over. Toad instantly discards the cart and becomes obsessed with motoring. He is a reckless driver and funds his cars with loans from the Weasels. Their volatile Chief tries to persuade him to sell Toad Hall. After a crazy drive into the Wild Wood and destroying a seventh motor car, all Toad, Rat, and Mole are lost in the inhospitable lair of the Weasels. The Weasels attempt to coerce Mole into stopping his friends from interfering with their plans. Toad also runs into the Weasels. The three end up in Mr Badger 's underground abode. Badger, a close friend of Toad 's late father who feels responsible for Toad 's inheritance, decides to end Toad 's obsession with motor cars. However, Toad refuses to listen to Badger and is ultimately arrested for stealing and crashing a motor - car outside a pub. During his trial, Toad 's defence lawyer is no help at all due to Toad 's behaviour. Furthermore, the Weasels are dominating the public box. The Chief Weasel poses as one of the rabbits in the Jury and coerces the terrified creatures to give a guilty verdict. After Toad insults the Court and makes a botched escape attempt, the enraged Judge gives him a hundred - year sentence in a castle dungeon. Back in Toad Hall, Rat and Mole are evicted by the Weasels, who have annexed Toad Hall for themselves. Rat and Mole tunnel under the castle to free Toad, but he is helped by the sympathetic Jailer 's daughter and her reluctant Tea Lady Aunt. Toad escapes, disguised as the latter. Having forgotten Toad 's wallet in his cell, Toad, Rat, and Mole board a train. The police, who have stowed away on the carriages, demand that the train be stopped. Toad confesses the truth and begs the driver to help him evade his captors. If only to protect his train, the driver agrees to help. He tosses coal at the police, but gets caught in a mail catcher. Toad takes control of the train and eventually crashes the engine. Having miraculously survived, he sets off again but is finally caught by the Weasels. The full extent of the Weasel 's plans are now revealed : they have built a dog - food factory over the remains of Mole 's house and are planning to blow up Toad Hall and build a slaughterhouse in its place, with which they will turn all of the peaceful Riverbankers into dog food. They have also damaged the area near to Badger 's home, which provokes him into taking decisive action against them. Badger and Rat attempt to infiltrate Toad Hall disguised as weasels, but are captured. Along with Toad, they are placed over the factory 's mincing machine. The Chief, Clarence and Geoffrey return to Toad Hall to prepare the victory celebration, leaving St. John in charge of the machine. Mole, who has broken into the factory, disables the machine allowing Toad, Badger and Rat to escape. In a premature sense of victory, Clarence and Geoffrey attempt to blow up their Chief using a birthday cake. Clarence and Geoffrey begin to fight each other for leadership, with the other Weasels drunkenly taking sides. This distraction allows the protagonists to stage a raid on the house, leaving all of the Weasels incapacitated in the ensuing fight. It turns out that the Chief has survived the coup against his life. Toad attempts to stop him from reaching the factory, which contains the detonator to blow up Toad Hall, to no avail. Unbeknownst to both of them, the explosives are actually in the factory ( Rat had switched the labels on the explosive 's containers earlier, leading the Weasels to believe the explosives were actually bone supplies for the factory ), and as such the Chief blows himself up along with the factory, leaving Toad Hall intact and Toad 's friends safe and well. Afterwards, Toad makes a public speech swearing off motor cars and promising to be wiser and less prideful in the future. Mole 's home has been repaired and he can go back to it. However, Toad is seen secretly talking to an airplane salesman, which shows that he has only moved on to a new craze. Toad flies over the crowd in his new plane, causing mass hysteria and Badger swears never to help Toad again. During the end credits, Toad flies across the country and eventually over the sea. Cast Steve Coogan as Mole Eric Idle as Rat Terry Jones as Mr Toad Nicol Williamson as Mr Badger Antony Sher as The Chief Weasel Michael Palin as The Sun Richard James as Geoffrey Weasel and Mole 's Clock Keith - Lee Castle as Clarence Weasel Robert Bathurst as St John Weasel Nigel Planer as The Car Salesman John Boswall as the Elderly Gentleman Stephen Fry as The Judge Roger Ashton - Griffiths as The Prosecution Counsel John Cleese as Mr Toad 's Lawyer Julia Sawalha as The Jailer 's Daughter Victoria Wood as The Tea Lady Don Henderson as The Sentry Richard Ridings as The Guard Bernard Hill as The Engine Driver Nick Gillard as a stunt double Songs featured in the film `` Messing About On The River '' ( Tony Hatch ) -- sung at the beginning by Rat, as he and Mole set out for a picnic on the river `` Secret of Survival '' -- sung by the Weasels, explaining that they 're only out for themselves `` Mr Toad '' -- sung by Toad, with lyrics taken directly from the novel, split into three sections ( one covering his escape from Toad Hall, one during his trial and one after the train crash ) `` Friends Is What We Is '' -- sung by Toad, Badger, Mole and Rat, as they drive the Weasels out of Toad Hall and during the party at the end `` Miracle of Friends '' -- the song played during the end credits Production The Wind in the Willows was produced by Allied Filmmakers in the UK and was then distributed by Columbia Pictures ( 1997 / USA ), Columbia TriStar, Pathé and Walt Disney Home Video ( 2004 / USA ). Terry Jones ( who plays Mr Toad ), one of the legendary Monty Python cast, teamed up with some of the remaining Pythons to bring the classic tale up to date for another generation to enjoy. Eric Idle as Rat, plays a major role, but John Cleese and Michael Palin have only small roles. John Cleese plays Toad 's inept defence lawyer, and Michael Palin plays a sardonic talking Sun, who occasionally chastises Toad for his reckless behaviour, and briefly speaks to Ratty and Mole. Terry Gilliam was asked to voice `` The River '', but busy filming schedules with 12 Monkeys kept him from joining the cast. `` The River '' only has one instance of dialogue in the entire film - he is shown with a mouth and sings a couple of lines of the first song. Filming and locations The filming was done mostly during sunset, and the colours were then readjusted. Filming for the railway scenes were shot on the Bluebell Railway, disguised as part of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway ( the Bluebell is home to a number of SE&CR locomotives, and as part of the old London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, the neighbouring railway to the SE&CR the disguise was not difficult to complete effectively ). This is the first film to use the SE&CR for the Wind in the Willows - the railway in most adaptations of the story is the Great Western Railway ( although the book itself does not specify this ). The scenes of the outside of Toad Hall were shot at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk. The external scenes of the Gaol are Dover Castle in Kent. The Old School, now the post office in Chiddingstone features as the Welcome Inn where Toad dines before stealing and crashing a motorcar. Distribution problems in the U.S. When the film first appeared in the U.S. under its original title, it got pushed aside due to distributors ' problems and very little promotional material was published. Takings in the UK had been low because the film had largely been shown only in the afternoon. Subsequently, New York papers wondered why such a wonderful children 's film was dumped by distributors. The New York Times published a very positive review by Lawrence Van Gelder. Yet, to add to the confusion, Walt Disney Home Video, in their video release changed its name to Mr Toad 's Wild Ride, to tie into their theme park ride ( the Walt Disney World version of which closed in 1998 ). At the time of the film 's US release Terry Jones, who was working on a documentary in New York, was told by telephone that the film was being shown in a cinema on Times Square. Jones rushed down to the square only to discover that the film was showing at `` one of those seedy little porno theatres. '' Reception Box Office In the UK, the film sub-totalled £ 1.303 million and $72,844 in the U.S. Critical response The film holds a 75 % approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and holds three stars out of five on the film critic website AllMovie.com. Film critic Mike Hertenstein wrote a positive critical review of the film. The films won the Best of the Fest award at the Chicago International Children 's Film Festival in 1998 and the WisKid Award at the Wisconsin International Children 's Film Festival in 2000. References ^ Jump up to : `` The Stats '' ( PDF ). British Film Institute. p. 101. Retrieved 12 April 2016. ^ Jump up to : Kent Film Office. `` Kent Film Office The Wind in the Willows Article ''. ^ Jump up to : The life and times of Monty Python 's Terry Jones by Nathan Bevan, Western Mail at walesonline.co.uk Jump up ^ Van Gelder, Lawrence ( 1997 - 10 - 31 ). `` FILM REVIEW ; An Orwellian Tale About Animal Behavior ''. The New York Times. New York City, New York : The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2013 - 10 - 19. Jump up ^ `` The Wind in the Willows ( 1997 ) ''. The Numbers. Retrieved 12 April 2016. Jump up ^ `` The Wind in the Willows ( Mr Toad 's Wild Ride ) ''. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2013 - 09 - 01. Jump up ^ Film review ( retrieved Jan 2010 ) Jump up ^ Film review ( retrieved Jan 2010 ) Archived 26 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine. External links The Wind in the Willows on IMDb The Wind in the Willows at Rotten Tomatoes The Wind in the Willows at AllMovie Films directed by Terry Jones Monty Python and the Holy Grail ( 1975 ) Monty Python 's Life of Brian ( 1979 ) Monty Python 's The Meaning of Life ( 1983 ) Personal Services ( 1987 ) Erik the Viking ( 1989 ) The Wind in the Willows ( 1996 ) Absolutely Anything ( 2015 ) The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame Characters Mr. Toad Film and TV Adaptations The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad 1946 TV Version 1983 film 1984 -- 1987 TV series 1987 film 1988 film 1995 film 1996 film 2006 film Stage Adaptations Toad of Toad Hall The Wind in the Willows ( musical ) Related works Mole 's Christmas A Tale Of Two Toads Oh, Mr. Toad Tales of the Willows by William Horwood Mr. Toad 's Wild Ride Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Wind_in_the_Willows_(1996_film)&oldid=857861673 '' Categories : 1996 films English - language films 1990s comedy films British films British children 's comedy films Films based on The Wind in the Willows Films directed by Terry Jones Films featuring anthropomorphic characters Films shot in England Screenplays by Terry Jones Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Wikipedia introduction cleanup from May 2017 All pages needing cleanup Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from May 2017 All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify Use dmy dates from April 2016 Use British English from April 2016 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from July 2007 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Deutsch Français Italiano Bahasa Melayu Polski Suomi Edit links This page was last edited on 3 September 2018, at 14 : 32 ( UTC ). 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Question: who plays badger in wind in the willows
Answer: Nicol Williamson