I believe that the ride is based on the AA Milne (sp?) play, Toad of Toad Hall which was, in turn, based on the book, The Wind in the Willows (well, the "Toad" part, at least). The ride has all of the characters in the play and includes the part of TWitW where Toad steals a car, crashed it, went to jail and had to fight the weasels to get Toad Hall back.

I don't remember there being any "hell" part in the play or the book though.

I found the lack of a wild ride in the film disappointing, to be sure.

The ride seems to be sort of an extrapolation of the characters and settings of the film, but the designers certainly took it in their own fanciful (or even bizarre) directions.

I can't remember if the live actin Mr. Toad's Wild Ride had any wild riding in it or not. (That's the one that was released to video, starring Eric Idle and a few other Pythons - it was called The Wind In The Willows overseas.)

I was in a production of Milne's Toad of Toad Hall when I was in grade school. I think I was Ratty, but boy that was a long time ago.

Bad news for Amelia:

16% all critics
12% top critics

The commericals are hyping this movie to be the first of the end of the year Oscar-worthy pics but the reviews have been hammering this one...

The Nightmare Before Xmas is showing at the Castro and I've never seen it. Should I go? I only know what little smidgen I do about the film from riding HMH with GC one night.

YES!

Um, another vote for YES.

Okay! I know you won't steer me wrong!

TNBC is worth seeing for the art direction and the amount of hard work that went into making it. But the story is dull as are the characters and a majority of the songs. Just sayin'. I like the ride we went on better.
:)

Oh, I wish I could go with you! I only have it on VHS and haven't watched it in for-evah, but I still remember going to the movies to see it when it first came out, on a date with a very cute boy I met at a Halloween party. He was a graphic artist and had been wanting to see it very badly. I loved it. I've never thought of anything about TNBC as dull.

The songs are an acquired taste ... just like the songs to most British musicals.

I went in expecting songs .... but frankly, it's an operetta -- and until I groked that, I was pretty disappointed. There's barely any dialogue and so the songs are not all toe-tapping ditties. Also, the main character is the Rex Harrison of puppets -- in that he talk-sings just about all his numbers. He breaks out into tuneful song only during his last number (which I think is done to great effect).