YMMV / The Wind in the Willows (1983)

• Awesome Art: Expansive, sumptuous sets, and expressive, anatomically detailed puppets invoke a deep sense of delight in the natural splendour of the setting.
• Broken Aesop: A couple of them here and there in a few episodes. Most notable in "The Grand Annual Show", which ends with Ratty, Mole and Badger chiding Toad not just for cheating at the competition for Best of Show, but for even entering to begin with, with Badger saying competitions "bring out the worst in all of us" despite all three of them not only entering themselves, but winning a grand prize each, and being good sports about it.
• Can't Un-Hear It: This version contains arguably the definitive cast, especially David Jason as Toad.
• He Really Can Sing: Fans of A Touch of Frost who had never seen this film before are often surprised to hear David Jason singing.
• Tear Jerker:
  • In the film, Toad crying for his friends in his prison cell and Mole breaking down in tears because he misses his home.
  • "Fighting Fit" ends with the discovery that Toad had received consultation letters from the railway company, which would have allowed him to object to the planned development of the railway line. But Toad, having no patience for letters, stuffed them all into his cupboard instead of responding to them or even informing his friends. Worse, he received the final reminder over a month ago, meaning there's no hope of turning the railway aside. Everyone present chews Toad out for dooming the whole community with his selfish idiocy, and Badger caps it all off with one last bitter remark to convey his utter disappointment:
    "What can one say, but... Oh, Toad!"
    • What makes it worse is that Toad initially doesn't understand or care about what he's done, and is more concerned with whining about his injuries. As Badger makes this remark, it seems to finally hit him, and he delivers the last line of "Oh, Badger..." with a voice quavering with emotion.
    • Rat's despairing cry of "Oh, what's the use?!" pins down just how bad things have gotten. Toad's normally harmless brand of selfish stupidity has finally done real harm and put an entire community in danger. It's not hard to imagine Rat here is reaching the end of his tether and giving Toad up as a lost cause - after all, if he isn't going to learn from this mistake, how can he ever be helped?
  • "Badger's Remedy"’s entire premise revolves around poor Mole getting sick from unwittingly eating a poisonous toadstool and almost dying. The sight of a sickened Mole lying in bed doesn't help matters, either. To see such a sweet and beloved character in such a horrific state can be heart-rending.
  • The Oh, Mr Toad episode, "Toad In Love", where Toad becomes infatuated with an actress, and the others sadly break the news to him that she is already married, causing a Heroic BSoD. Of course, Toad gets over it for another fad in short time, but it's telling that, even after four seasons of annoyances, including the supposed final straw with the aforementioned railway letter, the others still sympathise with Toad and don't want him to get his heart broken.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The fourth series, which followed the continuous story arc of a branch railway's construction threatening the River Bank and Wild Wood, had several episodes where this plotline barely featured at all. Also, two episodes concluded with the main four friends and the Weasels apparently agreeing to put aside their differences and fight the railway together; but this was never properly covered. Some may also consider the final resolution of the storyline a little weak — the Railway cancels their plans after an independent geological survey found that the land for planned route was unsuitable due to all the tunnels and burrows in the area. It's telling the fifth and final series converts entirely to just a Toad-centric comedy, like even the writers acknowledged their failure to commit to a more earnest series arc.

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