The Wind in the Willows is a live action adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's famous book. A nervous Mole (Lee Ingleby) emerges from his hole and ventures out to the river where he encounters Ratty (Mark Gatiss) who takes him on a boat trip. They get taken on a caravan ride by Toad of Toad Hall (Matt Lucas) who then goes dashing about recklessly in a motorcar.Mole and Ratty join up with Badger (Bob Hoskins) to save Mr Toad from his reckless need for speed but he ends up in jail and then the weasles take over his manor.This is a fun family drama directed with some style by Rachel Talalay. Hoskins is suitably grumpy as Badger, Lucas is manic as Toad. There are some nice cameos from actors such as Jim Carter and Imelda Staunton. However the weasels were a letdown.

This is not the best version of Kenneth Grahame's wonderful book, but it is a very enjoyable one. It is amusing and charming with memorable, quirky performance and great costume and set design.The adaptation does look visually pleasing, with colourful costumes and sets and the scenery is beautiful. The camera work was also creative, with interesting angles. The story is still well-constructed, well-paced, fairly true in essence and has many charming interludes particularly the Piper at the Gates of Dawn sequence which was a delight to see.The writing is also playful and witty, particularly with Toad, and the characters are still their likable selves. The acting is in general very good. Matt Lucas occasionally overdoes it, but he also seems to be enjoying himself. Bob Hoskins is a wonderful badger, while Lee Ingleby is a touching Mole and Mak Gatiss a suitably subdued and subtle Ratty. Mary Walsh is lovely too, Imelda Staunton is very amusing and while the weasels are a slight disappointment they aren't in a lot of it to distract too much.Overall, a very enjoyable TV adaptation. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I've already seen three different film versions of Kenneth Grahame's lovely story and I saw this version on Watch (a digital TV channel in the UK)on Christmas Eve 2009.The only people I've heard of were Bob Hoskins (Badger), Imelda Staunton (the barge lady) and Matt Lucas (Toad). Some parts reminded me of the 1983 stop-motion version, the 2D animated version from around 1995 and an abridged version of the story (retold by Lesley Sims), but this is probably the most unique version of them all. Matt Lucas and Bob Hoskins played a convincing Toad and Badger respectively, but I didn't know the majority of actors in this film at all.Matt's performance as Toad was the funniest thing in this film and it was well-acted by everyone else too. It's just a shame that there was no focus on Rat and Mole's riverside picnic. 9/10

Venturing out from his underground home, Mole joins Ratty for a river trip. They come across the rich Mr Toad, who has taken up caravanning as a new hobby. However this hobby is replaced by a new one when he is run off the road by a motorcar – sparking a new passion in his life. While Badger, Mole and Ratty try to cure Toad of his car obsession, the weasels use it against him in order to get the deeds to Toad Hall.That this was screened on New Years Day in the early evening slot should give you a clue about what to expect from this version. On the final day of the Christmas holiday, this is aimed at families with the parents enjoying the final day off work, looking for something warm, familiar and undemanding to watch that has enough of a family glow and wholesome feel to it to do the job. And that is just what this delivers nad it has the perfect material to do it with since Wind in the Willows is a family classic that many of us have affection for. Of course that is not saying that it is brilliant (it is not) but rather it is just safe family warmth without too much to really mark it out or justify watching it when not in a turkey-and-wine-induced stupor. The plot is well known and the film delivers it with a "jolly-old-England" air and light humour but not much else. It isn't that funny or inventive but again it does what it needed to do. Fans might also be narked that the weasels are squeezed into a silly panto action conclusion which seems like an afterthought for all concern.Visually the film looks good and the minimal design of the characters was a nice touch. The sets look good but the jump-edits and backgrounds were modern touches that jarred with the rest of the film and didn't work – the very occasional use of special effects were terrible too. The cast has one or two "holiday BBC family drama" faces in there to draw the audience but nobody does that well. Lucas hams it up in the main role and he seems to be enjoying himself. He will amuse children but he is closer to "silly" than "funny" from where I was coming from. Gatiss is a solid "Oxford-type" as Ratty and he is OK without being distinguished; likewise Ingleby's mole – good but not really memorable. Hoskins was a good piece of casting and he gives good badger with his constant grump. The weasels are poor characters and not that well delivered by a group cast for their tumbling ability rather than anything else but small turns from Staunton and a few others are amusing.Overall then a warm and basic bit of family entertainment that more or less did the job over the Christmas holidays by being pitched at a sedated family audience on their last day off work together and recovering from a New Year's Eve hangover. However it is not good enough to offer much if you are approaching it without this reduced set of requirements, not being funny, imaginative or engaging enough to stick in the mind even an hour after watching it. Of course it isn't helped by me having the memory of the 1996 version which, to be blunt, sh1ts on this version. OK it was floated down the river by Disney but it is better in almost every way and should be sought out by anything considering watching this because this 2006 version isn't a patch on it.