Once Upon a Forest

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.