Product Details

• Actors: Michael Crawford, Ben Vereen, Ellen Blain, Benji Gregory, Paige Gosney
• Directors: Charles Grosvenor
• Writers: Kelly Ward, Mark Young, Rae Lambert
• Producers: David Kirschner, James Wang, Jerry Mills, Paul Gertz
• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
• VHS Release Date: January 5, 1994
• Run Time: 71 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302864836
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #62,624 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Item Name: Once Upon a Forest; Studio: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beware the yellow dragons!, November 5, 2004

By 

Bonnie Sayers "autismfamily" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Once Upon a Forest [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Once Upon A Forest is about a mole, badger and hedgehog who go to Ferling's class taught by Cornelius, played by Michael Crawford. The movie starts off showing the animals getting ready for the days lesson and arriving at school at Cornelius's house in Dapplewood.

Cornelius proceeds to show the class his life's work, the Flapper wind thing. It is a model that flies around the house and breaks. He plans on someday making the real thing and they set out for the days journey.

While walking around in the forest to get to the surprise one of the animals finds a street and runs back into the forest at the same time a vehicle is going by tossing a glass out the window.

The animals want to know what that was, Cornelius tells them to get out of the road, and they go to the water to ride in the canoe. They take turns rowing and getting all wet. Upon getting out of the water Cornelius notices the quietness of the forest and they hurry home.

What happened was another vehicle hit the glass in the road causing it to turn over and emit some gas fumes into the forest. The animals make it to Michelle's house and smell the fumes. Michelle enters to find her mommy and daddy while the others wait on Cornelius to think of what to do next. Abigail goes in to pull out Michelle, whose parents did die.

They go to higher ground, which is at Cornelius's house. There Cornelius, who is Michelle's uncle, places Michelle in bed and tells a story of when he was a child and the same thing happened to his parents and he was the only one who got out.

This is a great family movie that shows the animals getting along for the sole purpose of helping another. It shows their instincts in taking care of themselves while on their journey.

Children will see life through the eyes of animals and how leaving glass on the street can cause a flat tire and damage to the animals in the woods. The three classmates grew up in the two days that they searched for the meadow and made their teacher proud.

What more could you want for a child to see than a life lesson while watching animals, listening to music and the colorful scenery.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not quite what you think, April 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Once Upon a Forest [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I admit that I was a bit turned off by the possibility of a sappy environmental message. But if you are too, give it a moment. Most of the animated stories aimed at your kids involve "evil villains" and probably a decent amount of physical conflict. My daughter's at a stage where she is very sensitive to "evil" characters, so I decided to check the movie out. Yes, Leonard is right - nothing very memorable... for an adult. My 3-yr-old child saw this film a month ago and is still acting out scenes from it and making me play characters. And it's true that there is the sappy environmentalism of animals tut-tutting the way those humans act. But I'll give away a tiny surprise. The humans turn out to be not all bad.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Touching Story, July 24, 2005

By 

L.C. (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Once Upon a Forest (DVD)

I loved this movie when I was little and I still enjoy it today, even at age 22! I've always loved animal movies, though, like The Lion King and Homeward Bound, so this one definitely was a winner with me!
This movie tells the story of four furlings who attend a nature class taught by a Badger named Cornellius. One day, during their class, a poisonous gas enters their forest home, and their friend Michelle becomes very sick from it. The other three furlings (Abigail, Edger, and Russel) work together to collect the herbs necessary to save Michelle.
Teamwork and loyalty to good friends is one of the big themes in this movie, and I think children (as well as adults) would really enjoy it! I do think it's a bit sad, but has a hopeful ending. It's really good! Edger is my favorite character!