Once Upon a Forest
Encyclopedia
Once Upon a Forest is an animated film produced by Hanna-Barbera
in association with HTV Cymru/Wales, Ltd.
and released on June 18, 1993 by 20th Century Fox
.
Based on the Furlings characters created by Rae Lambert, it was directed by Charles Grosvenor
and produced by David Kirschner
(creators of An American Tail
and Child's Play).
It tells the story of three forest denizens that go on an expedition to cure their friend, Michelle, who became sick from chemical fumes. Despite being made for children, it features material that might be considered a little too grave for the genre.
For example, animals are shown being suffocated by poisonous fumes, and it is more than implied that a very large number do not survive.
The film's environmental theme divided critics at the time of its release, along with the animation and story. It was a commercial failure, grossing only US$6.6 million domestically.
). The four Furlings central to the story are Abigail (Ellen Blain), a woodmouse; Russell (Paige Gosney), a hedgehog
; Edgar (Benji Gregory
), a mole
; and a badger
named Michelle (Elisabeth Moss
), who is Cornelius' niece.
One day, the Furlings go on a trip through the forest with Cornelius, where they see a road for the first time. Russell is almost run over by a careless driver, who throws away a glass bottle, which shatters in the middle of the road. Cornelius orders the Furlings to forget the road altogether. The ramble ends in a boat ride. Afterward, they go back to the forest to find out that it has been destroyed with poison gas from an overturned tanker truck that blew a tire from the broken glass bottle while transporting chlorine gas. Michelle runs to her home worried about her parents, only to breathe some of the gas and become severely ill. The gas inside the house has already killed both of her parents. Abigail manages to save Michelle, and the Furlings go to Cornelius' house nearby for shelter. There, Cornelius tells the Furlings that they need to fetch two herbs that can save Michelle's life: lungwort and eyebright
. With only a limited amount of time, they head off for their journey the next day.
After encountering numerous obstacles including a hungry barn owl
, a flock of religious wren
s including their reverend Phineas (Ben Vereen
), and intimidating construction equipment
, which the wrens call "yellow dragons", the Furlings make it to the meadow with the herbs they need. There, they meet the bully squirrel Waggs, and Willy, a tough but sensible mouse. After getting the eyebright, they discover that the lungwort is on a giant cliff making it inaccessible by foot. Russell suggests they use Cornelius' airship, the Flapper-Wing-a-Ma-Thing, to get to the lungwort.
The Furlings manage to get the lungwort after dangerous flight up the cliff, then steer their airship back for Dapplewood. They crash-land back in the forest after a storm, and bring the herbs to Michelle and Cornelius. When a group of humans who come to clean up the gas' mess appear, the animals escape through the backdoor of Cornelius's house. Unfortunately, Edgar gets separated from the group, and (after losing his glasses), gets caught in an old trap. When one of the workers finds him, the animals are at first worried about their friend, but are shocked when he frees Edgar and smashes the trap before stuffing it in his trash bag, an act Cornelius never expected a human to do, making him realize that there are good humans in the world. After taking Cornelius to the site where they crashed, the Furlings give him the herbs to help Michelle get better.
The next day, she wakes up from her coma after a teardrop from her uncle fearing her to be dead. The Furlings' families and many of the other inhabitants arrive as well, except for Michelle's mother and father, who were killed in the gas accident but Corneilus promised to look after her. The Furlings happily reunite with their families, who are relieved to see that their children are okay. Michelle asks Cornelius if anything will ever be the same again. Cornelius looks at the dead trees in the forest and says to her that if everyone works as hard to save Dapplewood as the Furlings did to save Michelle, it will be. The film ends with an overhead shot of Dapplewood to show that much of the forest is still alive and that there is still hope to rebuild and make a home.
, Rae Lambert
, devised an environmental tale entitled A Furling's Story as a pitch to the American cartoon studio, Hanna-Barbera
, along with partner Mike Young
. Thanks to screenwriters Mark Young
and Kelly Ward
, the project started as a made-for-TV movie with The Endangered as its new name. With 20th Century Fox on board, it was re-designed as a theatrical feature, with a US$13 million cost attached. The producer was David Kirschner, former chairman and CEO of Hanna-Barbera.
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 [as the chorus] started flipping their arms and moving their tambourines", recalls Kirschner.
Hanna-Barbera founder and animator William Hanna
was in charge of the film's production. "[It is] the finest feature production [we have] ever done," he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
in May 1993. "When I stood up and presented it to the studio, my eyes teared up. It is very, very heartwarming."
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 [actually Denmark], Asia, Argentina, Spain and England [actually Canada]." Work on the animation was in the hands of Wang Film Productions
in Taiwan; Lapiz Azul Animation and Matias Marcos Animation of Spain; 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.
Because of time constraints and budget limitations, over ten minutes were cut from the film before its release. One of the deleted scene
s featured the voice of Glenn Close
, whose character was removed entirely from the final storyline. At around the same time, the Fox studio changed the name of The Endangered to the present Once Upon a Forest, for fear audiences would find the former title too sensitive for a children's film.
' Stephen Holden
, and Variety
' s Todd McCarthy
. But some reviewers questioned the movie's message, such as Hal Hinson of The Washington Post
on June 19, 1993: "It's true that human beings are polluting and destroying the planet, but does anyone really think that the way to help children love nature is to teach them to hate mankind?"
The quality of the animation and story, the attributes of the characters, and the film's environmental approach were rebuked by Hinson and many other reviewers. Roger Ebert
's feelings on the film were mixed; he deemed it "a children's animated adventure that seems to have been conceived as an anthology of Politically Correct attitudes". He noted at the end of his review, "[It] has a good heart — I liked the way it treated its themes — but the movie is kind of dumb." The staff of Halliwell's Film Guide called it a "Dull and unimaginative animated movie that is unlikely to engage anyone's attention."
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 Tails 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
.
took note of the film's potential competition with Universal Studios
' already-established summer hit, Jurassic Park
: "[A] small but well-crafted animated feature like [this] seemingly doesn't stand a grasshopper's chance. And that's a shame, because this is a delightful family film." Ultimately, Once Upon a Forest did poorly in theaters: after opening with $2.2 million at 1,487 venues, it only managed to make back US$6,582,052 at the North American box office, about half its budget.
The Hanna-Barbera feature production unit created to produce Once Upon a Forest, as well as Jetsons: The Movie
which was released earlier and 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 (save for the live-action film adaptations of The Flintstones
, Scooby-Doo
and Yogi Bear
), although The Powerpuff Girls Movie
would be made in 2002 by Hanna-Barbera successor Cartoon Network Studios
.
In spite of the financial death and criticisms, Forest soon gained a cult following among its fans. 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. 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.
would write for an originally made animated film. 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 soundtrack, released by Fox Records, has been out of print since its publisher went out of business in the mid-1990s.
The multimedia company Sanctuary Woods
also released a MS-DOS
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.
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
in association with HTV Cymru/Wales, Ltd.
HTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
and released on June 18, 1993 by 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
.
Based on the Furlings characters created by Rae Lambert, it was directed by Charles Grosvenor
Charles Grosvenor
Charles Grosvenor is an American film director.-Early work:Originally from Hillsdale, New Jersey, he moved to Los Angeles in 1978 to work in the animation industry, at a time when most of the work was still being done in the US. His first job was for Hanna-Barbera, as a model designer on The...
and produced by David Kirschner
David Kirschner
David Kirschner is an American film and television producer, particularly of animated features.After studying at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, David Kirschner once worked as an illustrator of Muppets and Sesame Street characters, and created the children's book...
(creators of An American Tail
An American Tail
An American Tail is a 1986 American animated adventure film directed by Don Bluth and produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The film tells the story of Fievel Mouskewitz and his family as they immigrate from Russia to America for freedom. However, Fievel gets lost and must...
and Child's Play).
It tells the story of three forest denizens that go on an expedition to cure their friend, Michelle, who became sick from chemical fumes. Despite being made for children, it features material that might be considered a little too grave for the genre.
For example, animals are shown being suffocated by poisonous fumes, and it is more than implied that a very large number do not survive.
The film's environmental theme divided critics at the time of its release, along with the animation and story. It was a commercial failure, grossing only US$6.6 million domestically.
Plot
The story opens in a forest known as Dapplewood, where "Furlings" (a term for animal children) live alongside their teacher, Cornelius (Michael CrawfordMichael Crawford
Michael Crawford OBE is an English actor and singer. He has garnered great critical acclaim and won numerous awards during his career, which covers radio, television, film, and stagework on both London's West End and on Broadway in New York City...
). The four Furlings central to the story are Abigail (Ellen Blain), a woodmouse; Russell (Paige Gosney), a hedgehog
Hedgehog
A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the order Erinaceomorpha. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand . There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to the Americas...
; Edgar (Benji Gregory
Benji Gregory
Benji Gregory Benji Gregory Benji Gregory (born Benjamin Gregory Hertzberg on May 26, 1978 in Panorama City, California (IMDB reports that Mr Gregory-Hertzberg was born in Encino, California) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the role of Brian Tanner on ALF (1986)...
), a mole
Mole (animal)
Moles are small cylindrical mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have velvety fur; tiny or invisible ears and eyes; and short, powerful limbs with large paws oriented for digging. The term is especially and most properly used for the true moles, those of the Talpidae family in the...
; and a badger
Badger
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are nine species of badger, in three subfamilies : Melinae , Mellivorinae , and Taxideinae...
named Michelle (Elisabeth Moss
Elisabeth Moss
Elisabeth Singleton Moss is an American actor. Her notable roles include that of Zoey Bartlet, the third and youngest daughter of President Jed Bartlet, on the NBC television series The West Wing , and secretary turned copywriter Peggy Olson on the AMC original series Mad Men .-Early life and...
), who is Cornelius' niece.
One day, the Furlings go on a trip through the forest with Cornelius, where they see a road for the first time. Russell is almost run over by a careless driver, who throws away a glass bottle, which shatters in the middle of the road. Cornelius orders the Furlings to forget the road altogether. The ramble ends in a boat ride. Afterward, they go back to the forest to find out that it has been destroyed with poison gas from an overturned tanker truck that blew a tire from the broken glass bottle while transporting chlorine gas. Michelle runs to her home worried about her parents, only to breathe some of the gas and become severely ill. The gas inside the house has already killed both of her parents. Abigail manages to save Michelle, and the Furlings go to Cornelius' house nearby for shelter. There, Cornelius tells the Furlings that they need to fetch two herbs that can save Michelle's life: lungwort and eyebright
Euphrasia
Euphrasia is a genus of about 450 species of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae , with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are semi-parasitic on grasses and other plants...
. With only a limited amount of time, they head off for their journey the next day.
After encountering numerous obstacles including a hungry barn owl
Barn Owl
The Barn Owl is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as Common Barn Owl, to distinguish it from other species in the barn-owl family Tytonidae. These form one of two main lineages of living owls, the other being the typical...
, a flock of religious wren
Wren
The wrens are passerine birds in the mainly New World family Troglodytidae. There are approximately 80 species of true wrens in approximately 20 genera....
s including their reverend Phineas (Ben Vereen
Ben Vereen
Ben Vereen is an American actor, dancer, and singer who has appeared in numerous Broadway theatre shows. Vereen graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts.- Early years :...
), and intimidating construction equipment
Construction Equipment
Construction Equipment is a trade publication and web site serving the information needs of construction contractors, materials producers, and other owners and operators of construction equipment....
, which the wrens call "yellow dragons", the Furlings make it to the meadow with the herbs they need. There, they meet the bully squirrel Waggs, and Willy, a tough but sensible mouse. After getting the eyebright, they discover that the lungwort is on a giant cliff making it inaccessible by foot. Russell suggests they use Cornelius' airship, the Flapper-Wing-a-Ma-Thing, to get to the lungwort.
The Furlings manage to get the lungwort after dangerous flight up the cliff, then steer their airship back for Dapplewood. They crash-land back in the forest after a storm, and bring the herbs to Michelle and Cornelius. When a group of humans who come to clean up the gas' mess appear, the animals escape through the backdoor of Cornelius's house. Unfortunately, Edgar gets separated from the group, and (after losing his glasses), gets caught in an old trap. When one of the workers finds him, the animals are at first worried about their friend, but are shocked when he frees Edgar and smashes the trap before stuffing it in his trash bag, an act Cornelius never expected a human to do, making him realize that there are good humans in the world. After taking Cornelius to the site where they crashed, the Furlings give him the herbs to help Michelle get better.
The next day, she wakes up from her coma after a teardrop from her uncle fearing her to be dead. The Furlings' families and many of the other inhabitants arrive as well, except for Michelle's mother and father, who were killed in the gas accident but Corneilus promised to look after her. The Furlings happily reunite with their families, who are relieved to see that their children are okay. Michelle asks Cornelius if anything will ever be the same again. Cornelius looks at the dead trees in the forest and says to her that if everyone works as hard to save Dapplewood as the Furlings did to save Michelle, it will be. The film ends with an overhead shot of Dapplewood to show that much of the forest is still alive and that there is still hope to rebuild and make a home.
Cast
- Michael CrawfordMichael CrawfordMichael Crawford OBE is an English actor and singer. He has garnered great critical acclaim and won numerous awards during his career, which covers radio, television, film, and stagework on both London's West End and on Broadway in New York City...
- Cornelius - Ellen Blain - Abigail
- Benji GregoryBenji GregoryBenji Gregory Benji Gregory Benji Gregory (born Benjamin Gregory Hertzberg on May 26, 1978 in Panorama City, California (IMDB reports that Mr Gregory-Hertzberg was born in Encino, California) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the role of Brian Tanner on ALF (1986)...
- Edgar - Paige Gosney - Russell
- Elisabeth MossElisabeth MossElisabeth Singleton Moss is an American actor. Her notable roles include that of Zoey Bartlet, the third and youngest daughter of President Jed Bartlet, on the NBC television series The West Wing , and secretary turned copywriter Peggy Olson on the AMC original series Mad Men .-Early life and...
- Michelle - Ben VereenBen VereenBen Vereen is an American actor, dancer, and singer who has appeared in numerous Broadway theatre shows. Vereen graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts.- Early years :...
- Phineas - Will EstesWill EstesWill Estes is an American actor best known for his role as JJ Pryor, on the NBC drama American Dreams. In 2010, he joined the cast of Tom Selleck's new CBS police drama Blue Bloods...
- Willy - Charlie Adler - Waggs
- Rickey D'Shon CollinsRickey D'Shon CollinsRickey D'Shon Collins is an American voice actor who most notably provided the voice of Vince Lasalle on Disney's hit show Recess. He also voices as Tucker Foley in the Nickelodeon show Danny Phantom and Eric Ovens on Wayside. He is also best known as the associate producer in the 2009 comedy...
- Bosworth - Don ReedDon Reed-References:...
- Marshbird - Robert David HallRobert David HallRobert David Hall is an American actor, best known for his role as coroner Dr. Albert Robbins M.D. on the television show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.-Biography:...
- Truck driver - Paul EidingPaul EidingPaul Eiding is an American voice actor, voice instructor, and actor, perhaps best known as the voice actor behind Perceptor in the original Transformers cartoon, Roy Campbell in the Metal Gear series, the narrator in Diablo, Judicator Aldaris in StarCraft, and Max Tennyson in Ben 10, Ben 10: Alien...
- Abigail's father - Janet WaldoJanet WaldoJanet Waldo is an American actress and voice artist with a career encompassing radio, television, animation and live-action films. She is best known in animation for voicing Judy Jetson, Penelope Pitstop and Josie McCoy in Josie and the Pussycats...
- Edgar's mother - Susan SiloSusan SiloSusan Silo is an American actress and voice actress.-Early life and career:She was born in New York City, New York. Her acting career started in television on an episode of The Jack Benny Show. Silo also co-starred with Larry Blyden, Dawn Nickerson, and Diahn Williams in the NBC sitcom Harry's...
- Russell's mother - Angel Harper - Bosworth's mother
- Benjamin Kimball Smith - Russell's brother
- Haven Hartman - Russell's sister
- Glenn CloseGlenn CloseGlenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...
(deleted scene)
Production
Once Upon a Forest was conceived as early as 1989, when the head of graphic design at HTVHTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
, Rae Lambert
Rae Lambert
Rae Lambert is a Welsh author and graphic artist who was once a staff member at the Welsh TV station, HTV, and has also worked with the BBC and ITV. The Furlings, who appear in the 1993 animated film Once Upon a Forest, are his best known creation. Lambert has also written a series of books about a...
, devised an environmental tale entitled A Furling's Story as a pitch to the American cartoon studio, Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
, along with partner Mike Young
Mike Young (producer)
Michael "Mike" Young , is a Welsh born, US domiciled, Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning animation producer, he is founder of two animation companies in both UK and US. Young is the current COO of MoonScoop.-Biography:...
. Thanks to screenwriters Mark Young
Mark Young
Mark Young may refer to:*Mark Aitchison Young , British administrator, Governor of Hong Kong just before and after World War II*Mark John Young , Welsh Liberal Democrat candidate for the Vale of Clwyd in the National Assembly for Wales election, 2007*Mark Young , motorcycle racer who died at the...
and Kelly Ward
Kelly Ward
Kelly Ward is an American actor and voice director for TV animation. He is most famous for his role as T-Bird's Putzie in Grease.-Films and TV:...
, the project started as a made-for-TV movie with The Endangered as its new name. With 20th Century Fox on board, it was re-designed as a theatrical feature, with a US$13 million cost attached. The producer was David Kirschner, former chairman and CEO of Hanna-Barbera.
At the suggestion of Liz Kirschner, the wife of the film's producer, The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...
Michael Crawford
Michael Crawford
Michael Crawford OBE is an English actor and singer. He has garnered great critical acclaim and won numerous awards during his career, which covers radio, television, film, and stagework on both London's West End and on Broadway in New York City...
was chosen to play Cornelius. Members of South Central Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
' First Baptist Church were chosen to voice the chorus accompanying the preacher bird Phineas (voiced by Ben Vereen
Ben Vereen
Ben Vereen is an American actor, dancer, and singer who has appeared in numerous Broadway theatre shows. Vereen graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts.- Early years :...
). While filming the live-action references, the crew "was thrilled beyond [...] expectations [as the chorus] started flipping their arms and moving their tambourines", recalls Kirschner.
Hanna-Barbera founder and animator William Hanna
William Hanna
William Denby Hanna was an American animator, director, producer, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of people for much of the 20th century. When he was a young child, Hanna's family moved frequently, but they settled in Compton, California, by...
was in charge of the film's production. "[It is] the finest feature production [we have] ever done," he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the only major daily newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and its suburbs. The AJC, as it is called, is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the result of the merger between The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta...
in May 1993. "When I stood up and presented it to the studio, my eyes teared up. It is very, very heartwarming."
Kirscher spoke to The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...
Philip Wuntch a month later on the diversity of the film's production services: "Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
has great animators, and the studio has them locked up for years and years. We got the best worldwide animators available from Sweden [actually Denmark], Asia, Argentina, Spain and England [actually Canada]." Work on the animation was in the hands of Wang Film Productions
Wang Film Productions
Wang Film Productions is one of the oldest and most prolific Taiwanese animation studios...
in Taiwan; Lapiz Azul Animation and Matias Marcos Animation of Spain; 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.
Because of time constraints and budget limitations, over ten minutes were cut from the film before its release. One of the deleted scene
Deleted scene
In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
s featured the voice of Glenn Close
Glenn Close
Glenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...
, whose character was removed entirely from the final storyline. At around the same time, the Fox studio changed the name of The Endangered to the present Once Upon a Forest, for fear audiences would find the former title too sensitive for a children's film.
Reception
Once Upon a Forest received mixed reviews from critics during its original run. Showing praise for the film were The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
, and Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy is an American film critic. He wrote for Variety for 31 years as its chief film critic before being fired in 2010. He is currently a critic for The Hollywood Reporter....
. But some reviewers questioned the movie's message, such as Hal Hinson of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
on June 19, 1993: "It's true that human beings are polluting and destroying the planet, but does anyone really think that the way to help children love nature is to teach them to hate mankind?"
The quality of the animation and story, the attributes of the characters, and the film's environmental approach were rebuked by Hinson and many other reviewers. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
's feelings on the film were mixed; he deemed it "a children's animated adventure that seems to have been conceived as an anthology of Politically Correct attitudes". He noted at the end of his review, "[It] has a good heart — I liked the way it treated its themes — but the movie is kind of dumb." The staff of Halliwell's Film Guide called it a "Dull and unimaginative animated movie that is unlikely to engage anyone's attention."
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 Tails executive producer, and actually did create the characters and the story of the film. But ReelViews James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
and the Times Union of Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
found it misleading, hoping instead for the likes of Don Bluth
Don Bluth
Donald Virgil "Don" Bluth is an American animator and independent studio owner. He is best known for his departure from The Walt Disney Company in 1979 and his subsequent directing of animated films such as The Secret of NIMH , An American Tail ,The Land Before Time , and All Dogs Go to Heaven ,...
.
Release
The Miami HeraldThe Miami Herald
The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
took note of the film's potential competition with Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
' already-established summer hit, Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park (film)
Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...
: "[A] small but well-crafted animated feature like [this] seemingly doesn't stand a grasshopper's chance. And that's a shame, because this is a delightful family film." Ultimately, Once Upon a Forest did poorly in theaters: after opening with $2.2 million at 1,487 venues, it only managed to make back US$6,582,052 at the North American box office, about half its budget.
The Hanna-Barbera feature production unit created to produce Once Upon a Forest, as well as Jetsons: The Movie
Jetsons: The Movie
Jetsons: The Movie is a 1990 animated science fiction film produced by Hanna-Barbera and released on July 6, 1990, by Universal Pictures based on the hit cartoon series, The Jetsons . The movie features the final voice roles of George O'Hanlon and Mel Blanc who both died during production of the film...
which was released earlier and also carried an environmental theme, was spun off into another unit under parent company Turner Entertainment, Turner Feature Animation, which produced The Pagemaster
The Pagemaster
The Pagemaster is a 1994 adventure fantasy film starring Macaulay Culkin, Christopher Lloyd, Patrick Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, Frank Welker, and Leonard Nimoy...
and Cats Don't Dance
Cats Don't Dance
Cats Don't Dance is a 1997 animated musical comedy film, notable as the only fully animated feature produced by Turner Entertainment's feature animation unit . The film was distributed by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment...
. David Kirschner remained as head of the division. No further theatrical animated films were produced by Hanna-Barbera itself (save for the live-action film adaptations of The Flintstones
The Flintstones (film)
The Flintstones is a 1994 American live-action comedy film based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon television series of the same name about a Stone-Age man, his family and his best friend. The film was directed by Brian Levant, written by Tom S. Parker, Jim Jennewein and Steven E...
, Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo (film)
Scooby-Doo is a 2002 American comedy film based on the Hanna-Barbera television cartoon series Scooby-Doo about a group of young detectives and their talking dog. It is the first installment in the Scooby-Doo live action film series...
and Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear (film)
Yogi Bear is a 2010 American live-action film adaptation of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series The Yogi Bear Show directed by Eric Brevig. The film stars Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake, Tom Cavanagh, Anna Faris, T. J. Miller, Nate Corddry, and Andrew Daly....
), although The Powerpuff Girls Movie
The Powerpuff Girls Movie
The Powerpuff Girls Movie is a 2002 American animated film based on the Cartoon Network animated television series of the same name. Produced by Cartoon Network Studios for Warner Bros. Pictures and Cartoon Network, the film debuted in the United States on July 3, 2002...
would be made in 2002 by Hanna-Barbera successor Cartoon Network Studios
Cartoon Network Studios
Cartoon Network Studios is an American animation studio. A subsidiary of the Turner Broadcasting System , Cartoon Network Studios focuses on producing and developing animated programs only for and related to Cartoon Network...
.
In spite of the financial death and criticisms, Forest soon gained a cult following among its fans. 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. 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
Annie Award for Best Animated Feature
The Annie Award for Best Animated Feature is an Annie Award, awarded annually to the best animated feature film and introduced in 1992. In 1998 the award was renamed Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature, only to be reverted back to its original title again in 2001...
in 1993. It won an MPSE Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing.
Soundtrack
The score for Once Upon a Forest was among the last that composer James HornerJames Horner
James Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...
would write for an originally made animated film. 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 soundtrack, released by Fox Records, has been out of print since its publisher went out of business in the mid-1990s.
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 (ISBN 1-878-68587-2).The multimedia company Sanctuary Woods
Sanctuary Woods
Sanctuary Woods Multimedia, Inc. was a multimedia developer and third-party game publisher. It was one of the early multimedia companies developing products for CD-ROM distribution. The founders, Brian Beninger and Toni Beninger, were both experienced technologists who saw the potential for...
also released a MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
game based on the film, on CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
and floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
for IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
computers; Beth Agnew served as its adapter. Many elements of the game stayed faithful to the original source material.
See also
- FernGully: The Last RainforestFernGully: The Last RainforestFernGully: The Last Rainforest is a 1992 Australian-American animated film directed by Bill Kroyer, produced by Peter Faiman and Wayne Young, and written by Jim Cox based on a book of the same name by Diana Young. It is a film with a strong environmental theme...
- Another Fox animated film with an environmental theme. - The FurlingsThe FurlingsThe Furlings are a group of young animal characters created in 1989 by Welsh author Rae Lambert. They first appeared in A Furling's Story, which subsequently was the basis for 20th Century Fox/Hanna-Barbera's 1993 animated film, Once Upon a Forest....
- List of animated feature-length films
- List of works produced by Hanna-Barbera