Here's an interesting kid-friendly concoction that you might not have heard of, thanks to a big-time distributor with cold feet. An adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's classic 1908 children's novel The Wind in the Willows, Terry Jones' Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is being strangely mishandled by the good ol' Walt Disney corporation. Originally carrying the title of the novel, this clever and fanciful British film—created in 1996 by and featuring most of the surviving members of the Monty Python comedy troupe—has been renamed to match the Disneyland attraction and is now available in a hardly heralded, barebones DVD version. The film deserves better.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride—er, Wind in the Willows—tells the familiar tale of the heroic efforts of Mole (Steve Coogan) and Rat (Eric Idle) to get their slightly insane friend and landlord Toad (Terry Jones himself) to stop crazily squandering his vast inheritance on automobiles. He keeps crashing them and replacing them. He's a toad obsessed. But as the cash dwindles, the evil Weasels seek to snatch Toad's land, thereby displacing Toad's friends Mole and Rat, and bringing chaos to the peaceful forest. It's a weird little fantasy, firmly in the darkly daft Time Bandits mode. This is a film crammed with absurdity, mostly of the British variety, and that's perhaps the reason for Disney's confusion over how to handle it. Another case of Disney underestimating its audience?

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise of this production is that it serves as an almost-complete reunion of the Monty Python troupe. Graham Chapman has a good excuse, being dead and all, so the only holdout is Terry Gilliam, who supposedly was asked to take part but bowed out because, according to an interview, "too many Pythons were getting involved." The actors play their animal parts with the aid of only makeup tricks and costume embellishments. It's a tactic that might have gone horribly wrong and silly, but thanks to their inherent comedic talents and—in one case, genuine pathos—these actors make it all work. In the titular role, Jones plays Toad as a green-faced, heavy-bottomed buffoon, with great energy and persistence. Idle plays Rat with only the benefit of whiskers, enhanced with subtle CGI. In the film's finest performance, Coogan plays suddenly homeless Mole with a slight nose extension and a quiet sweetness that anchors the film, in a way. Watch for John Cleese as a lawyer in a wig, reminding older viewers instantly of A Fish Called Wanda.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is also a musical, and seeing these actors break out into song is pretty entertaining. Eric Idle's sing-song voice never ceases to bring a smile to my face. I watched the film with my 4-year-old daughter, and she enjoyed not only the songs but also the film's manic energy and imagery (although it was a bit scary toward the end). It's a film that doesn't talk down to the kids, and that's a big compliment in my book. Count on the British to do a kids film right.

Buena Vista presents Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in a mediocre nonanamorphic transfer of the film's original 1.85:1 theatrical presentation. It's a disappointing effort for the simple fact that it's not enhanced, but at least detail is passable. Colors are adequate, if a bit pink. But this is a subpar effort, looking a bit washed out and flat. Close-up detail is okay, but backgrounds suffer from softness and digital artifacting. Mosquito noise and aliasing abound, and I noticed fairly heavy edge enhancement. Also, the print itself is somewhat dirty.

The disc's Dolby Digital 2.0 track is mildly dynamic, offering occasional discrete effects to the right or left. The center channel takes on most of the duties. The few discrete effects I noticed, however, were a bit gimmicky. Dialog is well rendered, if a little thin at the top end.

Unless you consider chapter selection an extra, this disc is bereft of supplements.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is definitely worth a rental, if only for the kids. It's too bad Disney didn't see fit to honor the film by keeping its original title and giving it a better DVD treatment.