Once Upon a Forest

You know, I looked over my profile and noticed that I don't have much in the way of kid-friendly content. Now, I know a lot of my readers are probably adults, but I'm sure a few kids have read them as well. I'm sure there are also a few parents who've read my stuff.

With that in mind, I wanted to look at a film that I haven't watched in a while. This is Once Upon a Forest.

A Coming of Age Story for Younger Audiences

Our story begins in a place called Dapplewood Forest. Our main characters are three animal children (furlings) Abigail, Russel, and Edgar. These three kids live in the forest with their families and their badger friend Michelle and her uncle Cornelius.

Cornelius is the local teacher of Dapplewood, and is something of an inventor. One day, while on a ramble (the film's version of school), the furlings stumble across a road and encounter a car, the driver of which chucks a glass bottle into the road...you probably see where this is going.

The broken bottle punctures the tyre on a truck carrying toxic gas. The tanker is ruptured and the gas begins to spread, when the group returns from the ramble, they find their home destroyed and Michelle is exposed to the gas when she goes looking for her parents.

In order to save their friend, Abigail, Russel, and Edgar set off to get the needed plants from another meadow and return before it's too late.

What I Liked

Right, let's start off this section with a few obvious ones.

I LOVED the performances, the selection of Michael Crawford (of Phantom of the Opera fame) to play Cornelius was brilliant. He has just the right balance of wise and quirky. His musical number in the film still kicks you square in the feels too.

Usually I'm not a fan of movies centered on child protagonists. There's nothing really wrong with them, I just find that the performers are often trying way too hard - resulting in an unlikeable, obnoxious character. Here that's not the case, Ellen Blain, Benji Gregory, and Paige Gosney give the characters of Abigail, Russel, and Edgar a nice touch of depth which makes them relatable and likeable. I'm also pretty sure Elisabeth Moss' Michelle was strictly designed to make kids and adults alike cry.

The film also approaches the subject of death and loss - a subject often avoided in kids films - in a way that is easy for kids to understand without making them feel stupid. The scene where Abigail sees Michelle's parents dead in their kitchen from the gas is still painful to watch.

The music is good and the animation is just gorgeous to look at.

What I didn't Like

As far as stuff I didn't like, there wasn't much to dislike honestly. If I had to pick one thing, it'd be that the environmental themes felt a bit...overdone. It's not a consistent thing, but there are a few points in the film where the environmental stuff just seems overworked and unnecessary.

The characters, as much as I liked them, do start off very whiney which I wasn't a huge fan of, thankfully that changes fast. There are also a few moments where things slow down to the point of being a slog to get through.

Is this Film Worth It?

So, here's the rub; is Once Upon a Forest actually worth your time? Well, I guess that depends on what you're looking for in a kids film. If you're looking for a fun kids movie that has a few darker moments, then yeah I'd say this one is pretty good. If you're looking for a dark kids film (i.e. dark/disturbing visuals and humor), then no, this isn't a good choice.

Anyways, that's Once Upon a Forest. I hope you guys enjoyed the review. Let me know if you've seen this one and what you thought of it in the comments, and I'll see you in the next one.

Take care!