The Wind in the Willows (1983)

Cosgrove Hall were very much at the forefront of stop-motion animation in Britain at the start of the 1980s with their award-winning “Danger Mouse” and with this, probably their finest long-form adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s charming story. It’s “Mole” who gets fed up repainting his burrow and so sets off for a stroll to see his friend “Rat” and thence deep into the wintry woods to find “Badger”. These three are agitated by the erratic behaviour of “Toad” who has discovered the joys of the motor car, but not really of sensible driving. Indeed, he’s wrecked so many of the things that he is becoming a menace to himself and just about everyone else. “Badger” decides that a form of house-arrest is the only solution and so they lock “Toad” in his bedroom. Unfortunately he escapes, pinches a passing car and ends up on the wrong end of a twenty year jail sentence. Luckily, some of his fellow inmates befriend him and facilitate his escape - but when he gets home, he finds things not what he had expected and he has to rely on his old - and rather fed up - friends to reclaim his home from the marauding rats now in residence. The audio mixing here is effectively complementary to the high quality of the animation which is gorgeous, detailed and characterful: the snowy scenes with their snug little homes amidst dark forests; the fun with the old jalopies turned into dangerous weapons by the selfish “Toad” and, of course, the whole story is underpinned by loyalty, friendship and a bit of mischief too. Time and effort has gone into this and those skills have held their value well over time. Well worth a watch.