Once Upon A Forest

''Once Upon a Forest'' is a 1993 animated adventure film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Based on the ''Furlings'' characters created by Rae Lambert, the film was directed by Charles Grosvenor and produced by David Kirschner, and stars the voices of Michael Crawford, Ellen Blain, Benji Gregory in his final film role, Paige Gosney, Will Estes, Janet Waldo, Elisabeth Moss and Ben Vereen. The film is about a trio of "Furlings" – the story's term for young anthropomorphic animals – who go on an expedition to find a cure for their poisoned friend.

The film's environmental theme divided critics at the time of its release, along with the animation and story. The film grossed $6.6 million in the US against a budget of $13–16 million.

Plot

In a meadow called Dapplewood, a mouse named Abigail, a mole named Edgar, a hedgehog named Russell and a young badger named Michelle are all students of Michelle's uncle, Cornelius. One day, Cornelius takes them on a hike in the woods nearby, accidentally coming across a road. Russell is almost run over by a car and a glass bottle is tossed out of the window. Soon after, a poison gas truck comes down the road and its tire is punctured by the piece of the broken bottle causing the truck to skid off the road. The tank is ruptured and gas begins leaking into the forest, while the driver hurries off to get help.

Dapplewood is devastated by the gas. Michelle runs toward her home, crying out for her parents, and she fails to heed warnings from the others before running inside, and breathing in the deadly gas fumes within. Abigail subsequently runs into the house and retrieves Michelle, who is rendered comatose by the gas. Unfortunately, Michelle's parents are already dead. At Cornelius' house he explains to them of his past encounter with gas spreading humans when he and his sister were forced to flee and leave their parents behind. In order to save Michelle he explains the need to collect Lung-wort and Eye-bright, herbs that will help with the damage done to her by the gas. But because the plants nearby are destroyed, they will have to find another meadow and bring back the herbs in two days.

Their first night of traveling they catch the attention of a monstrous one-eyed barn owl after Abigail leads them over an open field. The owl briefly captures Abigail but she escapes his nest, and they manage to find a safe place to sleep. In the early morning, they encounter a flock of religious Wrens preparing to bid farewell to a young Wren child who has gotten his feet stuck in an oil puddle. Recognizing that he can be saved, Edgar stops the "funeral" and devises a plan to free him. They are successful and the wrens celebrate.

Afterward, their leader, is asked about the meadow and he explains that it lies beyond the Land of the Yellow Dragons, which is actually a construction site with construction vehicles. The three of them manage to escape the site from a sewer grate to safety, later emerging in a pond next to the other meadow. After getting the attention of the locals, they easily find a field full of Eye-bright, but find the Lung-wort high up on a treacherous looking cliff. While thinking of a plan, Russell finds the designs for a flying machine invented by Cornelius and they build it for real. After taking off, Abigail volunteers to climb out on the wing to grab the herb as they pass. She loses her balance, and Edgar saves her as she loses her grip on the wing. Despairing for a moment, seeing the Lung-wort missing from the cliff, they're relieved when Edgar finds it caught on the wing. They then fly off toward home.

Passing through a storm on their way back, they make a crash landing in the woods below and realize that they have made it back home. They hurry to Cornelius giving him the herbs. Moments later, they hear noises from outside and see humans out the window. Anticipating harm, all of them escape through the back door. Edgar gets separated from the group and gets caught in an animal trap. When one of the humans finds him, Cornelius and his friends are surprised when he frees Edgar, releases him, and disposes of the trap, declaring the area clean.

Michelle is given the remedy, and she appears unresponsive the next day. After single tear shed by Cornelius falls on her, she revives to their delight. Cornelius then sees the Flying machine and is amazed by how the three of them have matured over the last several days. The surviving Dapplewood residents, who had fled the area to escape the gas, return. Abigail, Edgar and Russell are reunited with their families and Cornelius takes in Michelle as all reflect on how they still have to work together.

Cast

* Michael Crawford as Cornelius, a badger who is Michelle's uncle and the teacher of the Furlings. Crawford also acts as the film's narrator.
* Ellen Blain as Abigail, a headstrong wood mouse and the leader of the Furlings.
** Florence Warner as the adult Abigail (segment "Once Upon A Time With Me") / The Balladeer (as Florence Warner Jones)
* Benji Gregory as Edgar, a young mole and the planner of the furlings. This was Benji‘s last film before his death.
* Paige Gosney as Russell, a young hedgehog and the doer of the furlings.
* Elisabeth Moss as Michelle, Cornelius' 3 year old niece who becomes comatose after inhaling poisonous gas.
* Ben Vereen as Phineas, the leader of a flock of religious wrens.
* Will Estes as Willy, a young and tough but sensible vole from Oakdale who takes a liking to Abigail.
* Charlie Adler as Waggs, an inconsiderate squirrel from Oakdale who acts hostile towards the Furlings when they arrive.
* Rickey D'Shon Collins as Bosworth, a young wren who is saved from a puddle of oil by the Furlings.
* Don Reed as a marshbird
* Robert David Hall as the driver of the tank truck that crashes in Dapplewood.
* Paul Eiding as Abigail's father
* Janet Waldo as Edgar's mother
* Susan Silo as Russell's mother
* Angel Harper as Bosworth's mother
* Benjamin Kimball Smith as Russell's brother
* Haven Hartman as Russell's sister

Production

''Once Upon a Forest'' was conceived as early as 1989, when the head of graphic design at ITV Cymru Wales (at the time known as Harlech Television, HTV), Rae Lambert, devised an environmental tale entitled ''A Furling's Story'' as a pitch to the American cartoon studio Hanna-Barbera (owned by Turner Broadcasting since 1991), along with partner Mike Young. Thanks to screenwriters Mark Young and Kelly Ward, the project started as a made-for-TV film with ''The Endangered'' as its new name.Beck (2005), p. 184.

At the suggestion of Liz Kirschner, the wife of the film's producer, ''The Phantom of the Opera'''s Broadway star Michael Crawford was chosen to play Cornelius. Members of South Central Los Angeles' First Baptist Church were chosen to voice the chorus accompanying the preacher bird Phineas (voiced by Ben Vereen). While filming the live-action references, the crew "was thrilled beyond ..expectations s the chorusstarted flipping their arms and moving their tambourines", as Kirschner recalled.Beck (2005), p. 184.

William Hanna, co-founder and chairman of Hanna-Barbera was in charge of the film's production as its executive producer. William told to '' The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' in May 1993 that it was the "finest feature production e haveever done", and was happy that the studio accepted his proposal.Beck (2005), p. 184.

Kirscher spoke to ''The Dallas Morning News'' Philip Wuntch a month later on the diversity of the film's production services: "Disney has great animators, and the studio has them locked up for years and years. We got the best worldwide animators available from Sweden ctually Denmark Asia, Argentina, Spain and England ctually Canada.Beck (2005), p. 184. Work on the animation was in the hands of Wang Film Productions in Taiwan; Lapiz Azul Animation and Matias Marcos Animation of Spain;Jury page
at ANIMACOR 2005. Retrieved March 27, 2007. (NB: Content is a machine translation fro
original Spanish
.) the Jaime Diaz Studio of Argentina; Denmark's A. Film; Phoenix Animation Studios in Toronto, Canada; and The Hollywood Cartoon Company. Mark Swanson Productions did computer animation for the "Yellow Dragons" and the Flapper-Wing-a-Ma-Thing.The ''Once Upon a Forest'' Page
. Retrieved July 6, 2006.

Because of time constraints and budget limitations, over ten minutes were cut from the film before its release. One of the deleted scenes featured the voice of Glenn Close, whose character was removed entirely from the final storyline.Beck (2005), p. 184. At around the same time, the studio temporarily changed the working title of ''The Endangered'' to the less-ominous ''Beyond the Yellow Dragons'', for fear audiences would find the former title too sensitive for a children's film.

The film's advertising at the time promised a new masterpiece "from the creator of '' An American Tail''". The creator in question was David Kirschner, who served as ''Tail''s executive producer, and actually did create the characters and the story of the film, but ''ReelViews'' James Berardinelli and the '' Times Union'' of Albany found it misleading, hoping instead for the likes of Don Bluth or Steven Spielberg.

Hanna-Barbera's feature production unit created to produce this film and '' Jetsons: The Movie'' (1990), which also carried an environmental theme, was spun off into another unit under parent company Turner Entertainment, Turner Feature Animation, which produced '' The Pagemaster'' and '' Cats Don't Dance''. David Kirschner remained as head of the division. No further theatrical animated films were produced by Hanna-Barbera itself (it would license live-action film adaptations of ''The Flintstones'' and '' Scooby-Doo'' before being dissolved in 2001).

Music

The score for ''Once Upon a Forest'' was one of several that composer James Horner wrote for animated films of the late '80s and early '90s. Three songs were written for it: "Please Wake Up", "He's Gone/He's Back", and the closing credits track, "Once Upon a Time with Me". The songs were performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, with contributions from Ben Vereen and Michael Crawford. The soundtrack, released by Fox Records, has been out of print since its publisher went out of business in the mid-1990s.

Songs

Original songs performed in the film include:

Release and reception

'' The Miami Herald'' took note of the film's potential competition with Universal Studios' already-established summer hit, ''Jurassic Park''; the tabloid wrote that it did not have a chance to compete against the former despite calling ''Once Upon a Forest'' a "delightful family film". Ultimately, ''Once Upon a Forest'' did poorly in theaters: after opening with $2.2 million at 1,487 venues, it made $6.5 million at the North American box office, just over half its budget.Beck (2005), p. 184. The film holds rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews. The critical consensus reads: "Inert animation and generically chipper characters rob ''Once Upon a Forest'' of any personality despite its well-intentioned message and critter appeal for very young children".

Fox Video's original VHS and laserdisc issue of the film, released on September 21, 1993, proved successful on the home video market for several months.Beck (2005), p. 184. On October 28, 2002, it premiered on DVD, also available on VHS in the UK with the content presented in fullscreen and widescreen formats. The original trailer was included as the only extra on the Australian Region 4 version.

''Once Upon a Forest'' was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Animated Feature in 1993. It won an MPSE Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing.

Merchandise

''Once Upon a Forest'' was adapted into book form by Elizabeth Isele, with illustrations by Carol Holman Grosvenor, the film's production designer. The tie-in was issued by Turner Publishing and distributed by Andrews McMeel, a month prior to the film's release ().

The multimedia company Sanctuary Woods also released a MS-DOS point-and-click adventure game based on the film, on CD-ROM and floppy disk for IBM computers; Beth Agnew served as its adapter. Many elements of the game stayed faithful to the original source material.Sheldon (2004), p. 164. None of the original voice actors reprised their roles as the voice acting was recorded in Canada.

See also

* List of works produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions
* List of 20th Century Fox theatrical animated feature films
* Lists of animated feature films
* List of American films of 1993
* '' FernGully: The Last Rainforest'', another animated film released by Fox with an environmental theme

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Once Upon a Forest
1990s children's animated films
1990s children's adventure films
1990s children's fantasy films
1990s musical drama films
1993 films
1993 American animated films
1993 children's films
1993 drama films
1993 directorial debut films
20th Century Fox animated films
20th Century Fox films
American animated feature films
American children's animated adventure films
American children's animated drama films
American children's animated fantasy films
American children's animated musical films
American fantasy adventure films
American musical drama films
Animated films about aviation
Animated films about mice
Animated films about orphans
Animated films about squirrels
Animated films about talking animals
Animated films set in forests
British children's animated films
British children's adventure films
British animated fantasy films
British fantasy adventure films
Environmental films
Animated films about badgers
Fictional moles
Films about hedgehogs
Films about adoption
Films directed by Charles Grosvenor
Films produced by David Kirschner
Films produced by William Hanna
Films scored by James Horner
Hanna-Barbera animated films
1990s English-language films
1990s British films
English-language musical drama films
English-language fantasy films
English-language adventure films
1993 musical films