The Willows in Winter (1997)
Hailed as the "rightful heir" to "The Wind in the Willows", William Horwood's critically acclaimed sequel comes to magical life in this beautifully animated feature-length classic. Join four of the best-loved characters in children's literature for their heart-warming and hilarious new adventure along the Riverbank, narrated by Academy Award-winner Vanessa Redgrave.
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Reviews
Absolutely Fantastic
A Masterpiece!
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
The acting in this movie is really good.
It was a pleasure working on The Willows in Winter, as a cell painter. I have some very fond memories and a few copied cells on my walls. I think this was a lovely piece of work, I like to watch it at Christmas. Excellent example of great British hand made animation at its best. The Wind in the Willows was just as good.
After the fantastic Wind in the Willows, The Willows in Winter was a wonderful continuation, with all the charm and likability of its predecessor. The animation was just stunning, and so was the music. The story(which was a great idea) and script were engaging, and the film is made memorable chiefly by its characters. The voice cast was perfectly refreshing, Rik Mayall reprising his role as Toad, and he was hilarious, but Alan Bennett, Michael Gambon and Michael Palin were also brilliant. And lovely narration from Vanessa Redgrave. On the whole, not quite as good as its predecessor, but beautiful and engaging nonetheless. 10/10 Bethany Cox.
The first cartoon of Kenneth Grahame's book was pretty good, I didn't actually know he did a second book based in Winter. Basically Toad has completely given up motor cars and now has a very high interest in flying planes. Mole meanwhile goes missing after walking across the frozen river and it cracking. Rat, nephew Mole and Badger are now on the lookout to find their friend. When they believe he is dead he finally turns up at his funeral. Toad unfortunately goes to court for suspected murder, a lot of other bad stuff happens to him when he gets back as well. Again, the voice artists are just perfect. The British actors are still Alan Bennett as Mole, Michael Palin as Rat, Sir Michael Gambon as Badger, and my favourite actor and character of the cartoon, Emmy winning Rik Mayall as Toad. Also starring Vanessa Redgrave as Grandmother. It won the Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Animation, and it was nominated for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming More Than One Hour). Good!
The Willows in Winter continues the story of Ratty,Mole,Toad and Badger and the other animals.We are also joined by moles nephew.Mole goes missing and the animals look for him.Toad also gets an airplane but crashes it on to someones conservatory.It turns out the persons conservatory is the judge who put him in prison in the last story.I will not give away too much of the plot and leave that for you to see what happens.The animation in this is beautiful.It is very charming,enjoyable and funny.The character voices are well chosen,especially Rik Mayal as Toad,he is a winner.