THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS (1996) **1/2 The cast makes you think "Monty Python Reunion" but it's actually more of an almost straight British all-star rendering of the children's classic. Terry Jones directs, rewrites Kenneth Grahame's good bits (though sadly the line "next year, Toad" appears not), and prances about in green makeup as the protagonist. Eric Idle has the face and whiskers for Ratty, but the best of the Pythons has to be John Cleese in the smaller role of Toad's lawyer. Not since Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters II (or any municipal court in America on overworked Public Defender's Day) have we seen a less insightful defense! Of course it does deserve some points for visionary value. Best of all Judge Stephen Fry is confused, so it must have actually been on a good track at some point. Michael Palin is only slightly less typecast as the sun. Good rendering in all, cawn't complain, many funny bits giving the kiddies a hearty laugh they all deserve, but only when Jones freelances a bit from the original, say on the Weasel song for example, does Toad's gypsy cart appear to be firing on all of its esoteric cylinders.
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