The Wind in the Willows is one of my favourite books of all time. Of The Adventures of Mole, Mole's Christmas and The Adventures of Toad, all three are brilliant. True to the writing of the book, with lovely animation, charming storytelling, engaging characters and superb voice acting. My personal favourite of the three is Mole's Christmas, perhaps I'm biased though because Christmas is my favourite time of year and I always found this touching. My least favourite is The Adventures of Toad, but that is still great. This adaptation The Adventures of Mole is beautiful in every way. Of the three, I'd say this one had the best on the whole- though all three are impressively animated-, the backgrounds and colours are well and truly luscious and the character designs are an improvement on The Adventures of Toad. I loved the colourful tranquillity of the famous river scene, the haunting menace of Mole in the forest and the bouncy brightness of the scene with Toad, Rat and Mole and the horse-driven cart. The music is appropriately whimsical, with a couple of catchy songs in the mix as well. The writing is true to that of the book, intelligent, poignant and most of all funny. The story has all the charm and appeal one would want and is faithful in detail and spirit, and all the characters engage. Mole is adorable, Rat's intelligent, Toad's hilarious and the weasels/stoats are appropriately menacing. I also liked how the animals and the riverbank had their own class system. Badger I don't think is quite gruff enough though. The voice acting is superb across the board, Peter Davison and Richard Briers voice Mole and Rat perfectly and Hugh Laurie sounds bursting with enthusiasm as Toad. All in all, a simply beautiful adaptation of the first part of a wonderful story. 10/10 Bethany Cox
