The Wind in the Willows

6/20/2025

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 p