That was an excellent one.

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Best movie ever!

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

If you love Don Bluth's "the Secret of the NIMH", then you'll be proud to enjoy this underrated animated film of the 90s! In this underrated animated film I enjoy a while a back when I first seen it on the Disney Channel back in probably the late 90s, the story takes place in Dapplewood which is kinda like your average animated film like "Ferngully: the last rainforest" for instants. three furlings friends, Abigail the wood mouse, Edgar the Mole and Russell the Hedgehog, find their tranquil lives greatly disrupted. then a chemical spill destroyed Dapplewood and their young friend Michelle (voiced by Elizabeth Moss) becomes seriously ill from the toxic fumes. Counting on their own ingenuity and the skills they learn from their teacher Cornelius (Michael Crawford of Broadway's the Phantom of the Opera), they take off on an exciting, but dangerous journey to find help for their friend, Their wisdom soon pays off and they set about to restore Dapplewood to its original splendor.I would say about this that I always wanted to watch this with my family and friends again and again, the story is good, the animation is so brilliant and stupendous, the characters are remarkable good and the songs are splendid! if your in for a good mood for clever animated family films, then you'll like this one.

Just do your kids a favor, and don't let them watch this at a young age.. if I remember it right its pretty traumatizing.. I haven't watched it since I was little because it scared me so bad, and I didn't even really know what was going on.. but I hated the gas killing the parents, the owl, the creepy gospel birds in the forest, the construction machines and the whole atmosphere of the movie was just creepy and dark.. I'm sure I would feel different about it now, watching it for the first time. I'm sure, IF, you're an adult you will find it a really well made cartoon.. but don't let your kids watch it unless you want that to be a lasting trauma.. :) as it stands I'm giving it 3 stars.

I personally think that Once Upon a Forest is an underrated gem. I mean this is one of the few animations that had me weeping buckets at the end, and I am a 17 year old schoolgirl. My only complaint is that at 68 minutes long, it is a little too short, but putting that discrepancy aside what you have is a beautiful, poignant film. The animation is stunning with beautiful backgrounds and excellent character animation, and I absolutely loved the songs by James Horner. Please Wake up, had me in tears,(the only other song in an animation that did that to me was Somewhere Out There from American Tail) and I know the vocals were a bit shaky but that can be forgiven as that is such an emotional song to sing, and it did say in the trivia that Michael Crawford found it very difficult not to be moved by the song. He's Gone/He's Back is an upbeat gospel song that provides the funniest moments in the film, and Once Upon a Time is so lovely with sublime vocals by Florence Warner Jones. The characters are a delight, particularly the wise Cornelius, and the three furling friends are very well done, with enthusiastic voice work from all involved. Both Ferngully and this were heavily criticised on release for being too preachy, but to me, both are wonderful overlooked films. Whereas Once Upon a Forest has slightly better songs(as I really liked the ones in FernGully) and better character development, one of FernGully's main merits is the villain Hexxus who terrified me when I was 9, and Tim Curry is one of the gods of voice acing and made Hexxus as chilling as people remember him. Once Upon a Forest has a number of enemies portrayed, like the yellow dragons, the owl and the gas, and I must say they were very well done. In conclusion, a beautiful underrated movie, and my main advice to those who haven't seen it, have a box of tissues beside you as this is bound to bing you tears. 9/10 Bethany Cox.

I wish movies like these were still made.Usually, animated movies like these don't find my favor, neither do I remember them very long. However, there's something about this one that somehow touches my heart. I first saw this video when I was about 8 years old, maybe a little older, 10 at the most. Years later, My younger brother, about 9, wanted to watch this video. I was 16 then, and at first, I had no interest in watching the movie. But then I remembered watching it years ago, and thought, oh, what the heck, I'm not doing anything today. So I watched it. Things that I paid no attention to when I was young I now watched closely. The introduction, transitions, quality of the video, the story, and reality of the video and characters. Even though this video is over 15 years old, it still had exceptionally good quality for a VHS tape. The characters are so real, you like them instantly. When I say real, I mean being able to tell the difference between a male and a female mouse, badger, and other critters that were in this movie. The young furlings start out as typical kids, mischievous and selfish. This leads to a few minor consequences. Eventually, they realize the danger and the reality of the real world out there, for example, the road. Now, I could get picky and say the car, tanker truck, "Yellow Dragons", and the humans did not look very realistic, but hey! This video isn't based on those things, so why judge the movie by that?When Michelle falls sick, the other young furlings realize the need to work together, get along, share, obey rules, and never give up. The songs, especially "Please Wake Up" were very touching, and even brought tears to my eyes. I liked how the furlings learned to respect their elders, so to speak, such as Uncle Cornelias, who was very wise. They balanced to movie very well with suspense and action.The end brought tears to my eyes once again, as it was very touching. It is an animated film and yet it brings out the reality of life. The only few things I would have done differently are these:1. If I was uncle Cornelius, I would have been much more upset with the furlings after they did foolish things, especially, when it ruins long periods of work. 2. It would have been nice to see Abigail with Willy again, since they liked each other. I thought for sure he would return to the picture towards the end, but never saw him. 3. It was really sad to leave Michelle without a Mommy or Daddy.Those are the only things I would have done differently. Like I said, I wish Fox still made good movies like this one. The new animated movies have much better graphics, but the stories usually aren't the greatest, and they tend to add humor and content that isn't really appropriate for children.