It had been a long time since I had actually seen Mr. Toad, but I thought it would be a good idea to view it before talking about Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I remembered the ride pretty well, but there were some parts of the ride that I wasn't sure matched up with the cartoon.
After doing so I noticed some major differences that made me wonder if the people at Disneyland had watched the film in a while either. I haven't read the book, where maybe they had drawn more inspiration from, but it seems to me like they should have gone more off the film.
Quick Synopsis: Mr. Toad, the proud owner of 'Toad Hall' is addicted to adrenaline and every new fad that comes around. He is so obsessed with each new "mania" that he has nearly run himself into financial ruin. His friends try to convince him to calm it down a bit, but spurred on by his horse friend, Cyril, he becomes obsessed with a new fad, a motorcar. His friends lock him away to try and keep him from being foolish, but he escapes and is later arrested for stealing a car. He claims he traded Toad Hall for the car, but the bar tender "Winky" says that instead Toad was trying to pawn a stolen car off on him.
A while later, Cyril helps Toad escape from jail, and after nearly drowning they find out that Winky is behind a whole plot to take Toad Hall so they sneak in and steal back the deed.
So anyone who has ridden this ride might be confused after hearing the plot of this short film, but for everyone else let me point out some inconsistencies.
1) The whole concept of the ride. At no point in the film does Toad actually drive the car like a madman through the town. At the beginning he is in a carriage with his horse friend Cyril causing a ruckus, but we never even actually see him driving the car. The whole ride is supposed to be you in the car with Toad crashing though walls and speeding though the town.
2) The 'Train Incident'. In the film, Toad commandeers a train as part of his prison escape ultimately jumping off into a river. In the ride, you seem to be running down the train tracks and are hit head on by an oncoming locomotive. The effect is very well done with the sound and the lights, I'm just not sure that it's a necessary part of the ride.
3) Hell. Possibly the most shocking part of the ride, after you are hit by the train (naturally a fatal event) you die. Not only do you die, but in a little commentary on Toad's lifestyle, you go to hell. Complete with hot air, fire and little winged demons, this seems very out of place for a Disney ride. Who came up with this idea? Nowhere in the film does Toad die, and he certainly never goes to hell.
As a kid this ride didn't really make sense to me, now I can see why. I had seen the cartoon, but this ride has almost nothing to do with it. Granted I was a bit oblivious as a child, but I could at least tell that this wasn't what I thought it would be about.
Lesson Learned:
I'm all for artistic expression, but try to keep it in the ballpark.
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