Once Upon a Forest is a 1993 animated film with an environmental theme, released by 20th Century Fox. Based on the Furlings characters created by Rae Lambert, it was directed by Charles Grosvenor and produced by David Kirschner, the creator of the An American Tail and Child's Play franchises. It was made by Hanna-Barbera in association with HTV Cymru Wales.
The film tells the tale of three forest denizens—a headstrong mouse named Abigail, a carefree hedgehog named Russell and a timid mole named Edgar—that go on an expedition to cure their badger friend, Michelle, who became sick from chemical fumes which leak into the forest due to human carelessness. But unlike many of the Green Aesops of the era, the humans are portrayed as redeemable in the end.
It remains largely obscure and a commercial flop (only making back about half its budget, and this was partly thanks to it debuting a week after Jurassic Park), though it does have a small following among fans who saw it as children and still remember it.
Once Upon a Forest provides examples of the following tropes:
- Absurdly Elderly Mother: While his age isn't stated, Cornelius looks, acts, and talks like a Grumpy Old Man. Given his sister doesn't look more than a few years younger than him in the flashback to their childhood, Michelle's mother falls into this since she'd be around the same age, while Michelle doesn't appear to be more than five or six at the oldest.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: A large broken off piece of a glass bottle is enough to completely burst through the tire of a sixteen wheeler as if it was stabbed with a knife.
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Justified. A small sewage drain is immense in comparison to three baby animals.
- Accidental Misnaming: Owing to his Massive Numbered Siblings, Russell's mother, believing him to already be at Cornelius' class, refers to him as "Roland" to his chagrin.
- Adults Are Useless: The young furlings are tasked to undertake the journey for Michelle's herbs on their own, without any adult supervision because Cornelius has to stay at Michelle's bedside, and one can assume the rest of the adults fled for their lives. Somewhat justified, since Cornelius is really the only one around who could take care of Michelle and he's her uncle and thus her only living relative who could look out for her after her parents' deaths.
- Advertised Extra: Veteran theater legend Ben Vereen gets top billing next to Michael Crawford, despite the fact that he only appears in this film for one memorable scene.
- Advertising by Association: Advertisements for the film said it was "from the creator of An American Tail". This was possibly done to mislead people into thinking it was a Don Bluth film, which it wasn't; David Kirschner produced both films (and came up with the initial idea for An American Tail).
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Not over-the-top, but blue mice certainly count (though the mouse in question appears grey on some TVs).
- Anger Born of Worry: At the beginning, when the Furlings are on the road and unaware that it's dangerous, Cornelius sees them then angrily raises his voice telling them to get off the road as a Range Rover car nearly runs over Russell. Cornelius sternly warns them about the road, telling them to avoid it and forget seeing it.
- Animals Not to Scale: The badgers and moles are about the same size as the mice.
- Animals Respect Nature: The elderly badger Cornelius acts as mentor to three "furlings:" Abigail (field mouse), Edgar (common mole) and Russell (hedgehog). They learn about nature and conservancy, including using willow bark as an analgesic. His aesop at the end of the film answers a furling's question whether their homeland of Dapplewood will ever recover from a toxic devastation: "If we all work together, it will be."
- Animated Musical: Though with only two songs, one of which is a Crowd Song and the other a solo.
- Anti-Villain: The humans. This seems to be a standard Humans Are Bastards tale at first, but most of the ones shown are responsible and try to protect animals whenever possible. The only truly bad humans were the littering drunk driver who caused the tragedy in the first place and the poachers who killed Cornelius' parents.
- Arboreal Abode: Cornelius lives in a literal tree house; others are pictured in the background but not everyone lives in one.
- Audible Sharpness: A rare non-combat example. a man throws a glass bottle out of a window, and the sharp edge of the bottle's broken bottom produces a sound along with a glint of sharpness. Sometime later, the glass punctures a chemical tanker's tire, causing the meadow where the main characters live to be poisoned.
- Automobiles Are Alien: Phineas and the flock warn the furlings about "yellow dragons" that "breathe fire and brimstone" and could crush them in an instant. These yellow dragons are construction vehicles that are clearing the land out for a new structure.
- Award-Bait Song: "
Once Upon a Time With Me
" by Florence Warner Jones is a typical award bait song from the era, which since it only plays over the credits, was likely meant to become a Breakaway Pop Hit, but perhaps because of the film flopping at the box office it wasn’t to be. - Bamboo Technology: The furlings build a flying machine out of sticks and leaves, using plans for them to follow.
- Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Nearly every character in the movie. Averted with Cornelius when he was a child as he wore footy pyjamas.
- Big Eater: Russell the hedgehog, who can't help but pack tons of food for their expedition. The same could also apply to his siblings who wolf all the food before he can get any.
- Bittersweet Ending:
- Michelle is brought out of her coma by the herbs, and one by one the furlings are tearfully reunited with their parents. But when Michelle asks Cornelius where her parents are, they're not coming back for her. They're dead.
- And beyond that, there are doubtless many other families in Dapplewood who were torn apart in a similar fashion. But, as Cornelius tells his niece, "If everyone works as hard to restore Dapplewood as your friends did to save you," things will gradually get better.
- Blind Without 'Em: Edgar the mole can't see without his glasses and becomes defenseless, just like how real moles can't see in bright lights.
- Brainy Brunette: Abigail, although sometimes, her ideas do more harm than good.
- Break the Cutie: Michelle, after finding out her parents are dead. The implications of how Michelle will need to cope with that after the movie ends is tragic enough.
- Buffy Speak:
- The Flapper-wingamathing!
- "Crank the winder-uppers!"
- Bystander Syndrome:
- The other birds don't even bother trying to find a way to rescue Bosworth from being stuck in the mud until the furlings turn up.
- Apart from showing the furlings where to find the herbs they need to save Michelle, the Oakdale residents do nothing to help them, not even with the construction of the Flapper-wingamathing.
- Call of the Wild Blue Yonder: Cornelius has a dream of flight, which leads him to pen diagrams and construct a scale model of a "Flapper Wingamathing". He doesn't get the chance to build one, though, as the tragic events of the story intervene. Cornelius's three young pupils, however, construct the device out of necessity, and it works. The end credits show Cornelius aboard his invention with the young 'uns operating it.
- Catchphrase: For Cornelius: "Great honk!" His niece Michelle tends to add "I betcha!" to the end of her sentences.
- Celestial Deadline: The furlings have to get the herbs to Michelle by the full moon.
- Character Death: Michelle's parents die due to the toxic gas. The point is harshly driven home at the end of the film, when after everyone is reunited with their parents Cornelius must explain to Michelle that her parents are never coming back.
- Character Development:
- Edgar goes from being a cowardly, worrying nerd to a brave, quick-thinking nerd.
- The Furlings all learn to work together a lot better. At the beginning they couldn't even row a boat without bickering and causing it to sink.
- Cheerful Child: Michelle, at least until her parents are killed by chlorine gas-poisoning and she becomes gravely ill from inhaling it herself.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Early on in the movie, the animals are told by their teacher that a certain part of the forest is off limits, but says that the reason why is "not today's lesson." Pan across to reveal an animal trap. This is promptly forgotten... until the very end of the movie, when Edgar the Mole gets caught in it while trying to evade some humans doing cleanup after the gas damaged the forest. One of them frees Edgar, smashes the trap, throws it in a garbage bag, and proves to the animals that perhaps humans aren't exclusively destructive monsters.
- The Furlings know they're home when Edgar realizes that they're in front of the tree Cornelius pulled a piece of bark from during a lecture at the beginning of the movie, and he still has the piece of bark and it fits into the little hole made when it was taken out.
- Also, the magnifying glass that Abigail decides to pack on a complete whim saves her life when the owl captures her, and she uses it to enlarge her teeth and scare it off (She didn’t think they would need it at first after Edgar asked if they would while briefly scaring her with it to her annoyance).
- Early on, Cornelius demonstrated the model for his Flapper Wingamathing. It ends up playing a big role in the climax when it's discovered that the paper Russell had wrapped his snacks in were the plans for it.
- Chickification: Abigail from halfway through the movie on. After she gets into real danger, she becomes a little more cautious: understandable. However, from there, her biggest contribution is getting the locals to like her and her party by flirting, and she fails to get the lungwort and puts herself in mortal peril again so that Edgar can complete his own character arc.
- Clarke's Third Law: The trailers talked about the main characters searching for a "magic potion." Sure, if herbal remedies that exist in real life count.
- Comfort the Dying: The furlings have only two days' time in which to retrieve medicinal herbs for the dying
moe Michelle. Their adult mentor, Cornelius, cannot accompany them, since he dares not leave Michelle unattended and their respective families have all fled due to the gas accident. As the furlings journey forth, Cornelius conducts an agonizing vigil at Michelle's bedside. Although the furlings return with the herbs at the eleventh hour, Michelle remains unresponsive. It's a Disney Death, however. - Coming in Hot: The Furlings end up crashing the Flapper Wingamathing after it hits a telephone pole and catches on fire.
- Coming of Age Story: "You're no longer my Furlings. You've grown up."
- Convenient Coma: Michelle's coma is a main plot point.
- Converse with the Unconscious: Cornelius sings a song to Michelle as she's lying unconscious.
- Cool Big Sis: Abigail tries to be one to Michelle, and even braves being poisoned herself to rescue her when she succumbs to the gas leak.
- Covers Always Lie: The theatrical poster for the movie depicts the Flapper-wingamathing being struck by lighting and catching fire. The flying machine does encounter a storm on the journey back to Dapplewood but actually catches fire after striking a power-line.
- Cowardly Lion: Edgar, though he does grow braver as the movie progresses, eventually developing enough of a backbone to put Waggs in his place after he insults Michelle and also to save Abigail from falling off the Flapper-wingamathing.
- Daddy's Girl: Abigail, from what we see of the interactions between her and her father at beginning of the film. Justified somewhat since we never see Abigail's mother.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The humans at the end of the movie are each clad in a fully-obscuring Hazmat Suit that makes them look somewhat (especially to the small animals) like gigantic shadowy cyclopses with Glowing Eyes of Doom, but they're there to clean up as much of the mess as they can. One in particular rescues Edgar from an animal trap, gently sets him down and gives him a comforting pat, before angrily destroying said trap and putting it in a trash bag.
- Deadly Gas: After the tanker truck runs over the glass shards and blows out its tires, the gas contained in the tank begins leaking out and starts killing everything. It's supposed to be chlorine gas, and the creators have Shown Their Work in that inhaling it can be severely damaging to the lungs and eyes, as what happened to poor Michelle, and prolonged exposure ensures termination of life.
- The Determinator: The furlings, especially Abigail, when they realise they only have two days in which to find the herbs they need to save Michelle.
- Disappeared Dad: Neither Russell nor Edgar seem to have fathers. Possibly Truth in Television, as female moles and hedgehogs raise their young alone.
- Disney Death: Michelle doesn't wake up right away when they give her the herbs, but eventually does.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Abigail gets in a fight with a mouse named Willy. It causes the two of them to plummet from the tree they're both in and it causes Willy to lose the acorn they were fighting over. He turns to yell at Abigail and this trope ensues.Willy: JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE... You're... Gosh I hope I didn't hurt you when you threw me down.
- The Dreaded: Humans to Cornelius and the "yellow dragons" to the birds, the furlings are warned of the dangers the aforementioned threats pose. Knowing they need to brave such dangers in order to save Michelle, they defiantly declare themselves undeterred to Phineas (or at least Abigail does).
- Fantastic Racism: The Furlings encounter a bullying squirrel in Oakdale Meadow named Waggs who seems to have something against every species other than squirrels.
- Feathered Fiend: The owl that nearly eats Abigail is presented as monstrous, given that it is trying to eat our young heroes.
- Find the Cure: The story is a quest to find two herbs to cure Michelle's poisoning, eyebright and lungwort. The furlings must travel to a different meadow entirely to find these things because everything in their own meadow is dead.
- Flower from the Mountaintop: The furlings need to gather eyebright and lungwort flowers in order to cure Michelle. The eyebright is fairly easy to get, but the lungwort is up on the side of a very high cliff.
- Foreshadowing:
- Cornelius tries to teach the furlings about teamwork by having Abigail and Russell paddle a boat. Their resultant squabbling results in the boat capsizing and sinking. The furlings end up falling into an Absurdly Spacious Sewer and washed out into a stream while trying to escape the "yellow dragons".
- Abigail and Russell unintentionally destroy Cornelius' Flapper-wingamathing prototype. The life-size version they and Edgar build in order to return to Dapplewood crashes into a tree after a collision with a power-line sets one of the wings on fire.
- Cornelius warns the furlings of a trap left by humans. Edgar gets caught in a trap after losing his glasses. Thankfully, the humans free him.
- Furry Confusion: The one-eyed owl who tries to eat them. Later on, while in a sewer, the furlings encounter scary non-anthropomorphic rats.
- Furry Reminder: Russell the hedgehog curls up into a ball when he gets scared.
- Gas Chamber: The chlorine gas leaks into Michelle's home and kills her parents. She goes to check on them and is knocked unconscious and Abigail has to risk being poisoned herself in order to rescue her.
- Green Aesop: While the effects of the gas leak are shown as world-shattering to the animals, humans immediately take responsibility and begin clean-up efforts. The Aesop seems to be that yes, humans have messed this world up a lot, but we can all do something to make things better and correct our mistakes.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Apart from Abigail, her father and Cornelius, most of the anthropomorphic animals only wear a shirt or a coat, and in Michelle's case, a dress.
- Help, I'm Stuck!:
- Poor Bosworth is stuck in mud and seemingly left for dead until the furlings device a plan to rescue him.
- At one point, Russell gets stuck between the bars of a drain cover with Abigail and Edgar hanging by his legs, with a steamroller approaching.
- Huddle Shot: After Russell survives almost being run over by a car, ending up on his back as his friends check up on him.
- Humans Are Bastards: Subverted. The humans aren't evil, but they do make mistakes.
- Humans Are Cthulhu: They're depicted as alien and inscrutable (the only time we see a human above the foot level, he's wrapped in a Hazmat Suit), but they're shown to be rather decent, so more like "Humans Are the Great Race of Yith." In the flashback to Cornelius' youth, they seem to be carrying out some kind of deliberate extermination for reasons unknown (though it is possible this may just be Cornelius' version of events).
- Humans Are the Real Monsters:
- Implied throughout the film as humans are the accidental cause of a gas leak that devastates Dapplewood, and also killed Cornelius's parents in the past, but then turned around and averted at the end when humans are seen cleaning up the mess they created in Dapplewood, to the surprise of Cornelius and the furlings. So humans can be bastards, but they're not all bad.
- A human also releases a trapped Edgar, then crushes the trap for good measure, and puts it into a trash bag. He even very carefully puts him down.
- Idiot Hero: Abigail is highly impulsive and headstrong; she fits much of the Idiot Hero mold despite it normally being an Always Male trope. Then again, it's Abigail, and she Gender Flips plenty of Always Male tropes.
- It's All My Fault: Abigail, after the owl attack, blames herself for causing the trouble with it.
- It's Quiet… Too Quiet: In the midst of reprimanding the Furlings for capsizing their boat, Cornelius suddenly notices a large flock of birds flying overhead and concludes that things are too quiet. He orders them to return home, and it is then that they finally see the damage the gas has caused.
- Jaw Drop:"Russell, your mouth is hanging open..."Michelle: Uncle Cornelius, your mouth is hanging open.
- Jerkass: Waggs. He seems to hate every non-squirrel species, especially badgers, and he mocks the furlings relentlessly as they go through with the construction of the Flapper-wingamathing in order to get the required lungwort. He's the only one who refuses to be happy for them when they succeed.
- Love at First Sight: Abigail falls on top of Willy the field mouse from a tree, and they instantly become shy and flirty.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: While it isn't clear just how many siblings Russell has, there's enough of them to completely cover him in a dog-pile at the end. At the beginning, they all qualify as a Big Eater, even more so than Russell since they wolf all the food before he can get any.
- Meaningful Name: The name Abigail means "father's joy". This actually hits Genius Bonus when you realize how much her father loves and cares for her.
- Missing Mom: Abigail's mother is never shown and it's unknown what happened to her.
- Motor Mouth: Michelle's Establishing Character Moment has her rushing in to greet her three friends, talking so fast they can barely keep up with her. Though she is shown to be significantly younger than them.
- Mouse World: Dapplewood is a mouse world done in a more rural, wilderness setting. It consists of houses built into trees with Bamboo Technology being the norm and animals wearing clothing, far from the prying eyes of humans, though it is also home to other woodland creatures such as badgers, moles and hedgehogs.
- My Beloved Smother: Edgar's mother, somewhat, though he regrets holding her in such regard after he only finds her apron since she and all the other residents of Dapplewood fled in light of the gas accident.
- Nature Clean-Up: After an accidental gas spill, humans are shown cleaning up the mess, one even freeing Edgar, a mole, from a trap, then crushing and disposing of the trap as well.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: When the parents disappear, Edgar laments rushing off to class without ever kissing his mother good-bye. She's fine, and when they're reunited, it's the first thing he does.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The trailers played Michelle's plight up as "needing a magic potion", all she really needs are certain types of herb that can't be found in Dapplewood, requiring the furlings to go on a journey to find them and return within two days.
- No FEMA Response: Subverted with decontamination crew cleaning up the entire area affected by the leak.
- Not Dead, Just Asleep: Abigail, Edgar and Russell complete their mission to retrieve medicinal herbs from distant Oakdale near the end of the second day. Cornelius applies the treatments to his dying niece Michelle, then everyone sacks out for the night. In the morning, Michelle is still unresponsive, and everyone begins weeping. One teardrop from Cornelius, however, makes her stir, and she awakens as though nothing was amiss.Michelle: I just had [yawn, stretch] a long nap.
- Not the Fall That Kills You…:
- Abigail falls off the flapper-wingamathing while trying to retrieve the lungwort from the side of a very tall cliff, but is saved by grabbing onto the wing after Russell swoops the flying machine down to catch her.
- Abigail has a habit of falling. She falls out of a tree twice in the film but her fall is 'broken', once by landing on Russell and Edgar, the second time by landing on Willy.
- Ominous Owl: A very intentionally creepy one-eyed owl attacks the furlings at one point and tries to eat Abigail.
- One of the Boys: Abigail, who, aside from perhaps Michelle, has only guy friends.
- Parental Abandonment: Michelle is orphaned by the gas leak killing her parents.
- Please Wake Up: Cornelius sings a song by this title to an unconscious Michelle. It's exactly as sad as it sounds.
- The Power of Friendship: On their quest, the Furlings discover that in order to succeed, they must work together, which they eventually learn to do.
- Power Trio: Abigail, Edgar and Russell become this as it falls upon them to find the herbs needed to save Michelle and Cornelius has to stay behind to look after her and all the other residents of Dapplewood have fled due to the gas accident.
- Puppy Love: Willy quickly takes a liking to Abigail, she feels the same but she quickly prioritises saving Michelle. Willy at least helps the furlings find the eyebright.
- Quicksand Sucks: Averted. A young quail gets stuck in a bog. Edgar draws up schematics for a lever device to pry him out, which takes a while to build, but the quail is okay until it is finished.
- Race Against the Clock: The Furlings must get Michelle the herbs within two days in order to cancel her appointment with the Grim Reaper.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The non-anthropomorphic rats the furlings briefly encounter in the sewer.
- Scary Teeth: When the owl captures Abigail and is about to eat her, she holds a magnifying glass in front of her face and her teeth suddenly become fangs, utterly terrifying the bird.
- Scenery Porn: Most notably at the beginning, though the backgrounds and animation are quite lush throughout.
- Serendipitous Survival: Thanks to being on their ramble, Cornelius and the Furlings aren't in the meadow during the gas accident. Unfortunately, not only does this mean that they have no idea what happened to their families while they were gone, but a worried Michelle races back home because of it and gets a potentially lethal dose of gas.
- Shorter Means Smarter: Edgar is the shortest and smartest of Michelle's rescuers.
- Shown Their Work: Just like in Real Life, the chlorine gas in the movie is lime-green and causes severe damage to the eyes and lungs - and death after prolonged exposure.
- Sore Loser: Waggs goes into a huff after the furlings prove him wrong about building the Flapper-wingamathing, getting it to work and getting the required lungwort. The mice (and other squirrels), by contrast, cheer them on.
- Stealth Pun: The Furlings encounter a bird pastor and his flock.
- Stop Drowning and Stand Up: Edgar is left flailing in a pool of water, only for Abigail and Russell to point out that it's only knee-high.
- Strong Family Resemblance: The furlings to their parents, almost hitting Generation Xerox territory.
- Swiss-Army Tears: Michelle doesn't wake up until Cornelius' tears fall on her face.
- Take My Hand!: Edgar rescues Abigail this way as she's clinging to the wing of the flapper wingamathing.
- Team Dad: Cornelius is the Team Dad figure, since Michelle's father is killed in the gas accident and Abigail is the only other Dapplewood resident who is shown to have a father.
- A-Team Montage: When the furlings are building the flapper wingamathing a montage plays.
- That Reminds Me of a Song: "He's Back" is presented this way. The entire scene with the birds could be dropped without really affecting the plot.
- Those Magnificent Flying Machines: The furlings construct and operate a life-size version of Cornelius' Flapper-Wingamathing in order to return to Dapplewood.
- Tomboy: Abigail, naturally, looks and acts the part through her boyish short hair, clothing that is more masculine than clothing, and all the rough activities she does. Though she is also a Daddy's Girl and capable of realising when she's screwed up.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Abigail is the tomboy to Michelle's girly girl; the two are friends and fellow furlings learning from Michelle's uncle.
- Too Dumb to Live:
- In other circumstances, Michelle might be excused for not being familiar with what an echo is. However, this echo is coming out of her own home and it's difficult to imagine her not having heard it before to the point that she can't tell that it's not her mother answering.
- Given every other resident of Dapplewood managed to get away before the gas leak could cause them any serious harm, one wonders why Michelle's parents didn't attempt to escape the moment the gas started to leak into their home?
- Took a Level In Idealism: Cornelius has an intensive hatred for humans as he and his young sister, in their childhood, had to see their parents in their old home being exterminated by humans (to make matters worse, this is just after his sister and brother-in-law died in the gas accident) but at the end of the movie when he sees Edgar being freed by a human after he gets trapped in an old trap, he realizes that not all humans are evil and embraced the fact that they have the capacity for kindness.
- Tragic Keepsake: The plushie Cornelius keeps as the sole possession he and his recently-deceased sister were able to salvage from losing their home and parents as children.
- Trrrilling Rrrs: Cornelius does this constantly, especially when emphasising about rheumatism and when he utters his Catchphrase "GREAT HONK!"
- Two Guys and a Girl: The Power Trio of the film, consisting of Russell, Edgar and Abigail.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The driver who drops his bottle. One careless act of littering causes a chain reaction that devastates the forest, nearly kills Michelle, and DOES kill her parents.
- Vanilla Edition: The DVD has no extras and is probably the only edition that will come out.
- Wacky Wayside Tribe: The furlings' quest to find the herbs rivals a Redwall book in the amount of random encounters they keep having. None of them get them any closer to finding a new meadow, though Phineas does have the decency to give them directions for one.
- Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: Russell often clashes with Abigail, especially when she gets herself and sometimes, him and Edgar, into trouble.
- Wham Line:
- When Michelle rushes to go home and be with her parents as her friends go with her:Cornelius: No, furlings, there's a deadly gas in there!
- Another happens at the end.Michelle: Lookie, Uncle Cornelius, all the mommies and daddies are coming back.
Cornelius: Not ALL the mommies and daddies.
- When Michelle rushes to go home and be with her parents as her friends go with her:
- Woodland Creatures: The main characters are a mouse, a mole and a hedgehog. Their mentor and best friend are badgers and later in the film, they encounter other mice and squirrels.