History YMMV / OnceUponAForest

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The part where the group comes across the flock of birds and has to save a young bird named Bosworth, who's stuck in a mud puddle. This section really doesn't contribute anything to the story, except comic relief and to introduce the concept of "the Yellow Dragons."

* {{Moe}}: All of the main kids characters qualify, but especially Michelle who is a curious, cheerful, and adorable little badger, which makes her even more sympathetic and pitiful when a gas leak orphans and nearly kills her.

%%* {{Moe}}: Michelle, of course!

* TooDumbToLive: In other circumstances, Michelle might be excuse 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 run into it before to the point that she can't tell whether it's her own voice or her mother answering.

** The movie's full of beautiful James Horner scores. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMCgW0ZMqGQ "The Forest"]] is a prime example.

* InferredHolocaust: Though two deaths [[spoiler: (Michelle's parents)]] are shown onscreen, the gas leak would have probably killed many more cute furry forest creatures than that...

** Cornelius certainly qualifies. He and his younger sister lost their parents when they were still kids, and then he [[spoiler:loses his sister and brother-in-law at the beginning of the movie]]. It's even easier to feel bad for him, given that [[spoiler: now Michelle is all the family he has left in the world and]] he can only sit there helplessly as she's slowly slipping away.

* ActorAllusion: Cornelius shares his name with Creator/MichaelCrawford's character from ''Film/HelloDolly'', although this could just be a coincidence.

** One of the film's animators was Sergio Pablos, the man behind ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Klaus}}''.

* SweetnessAversion: Michelle is way too cute. You cannot resist.

* ValuesResonance: After things like the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, this film and its {{a|nAesop}}esop are particularly relevant.

* AllAnimationIsDisney: Besides being mistaken for a Disney movie, it is also sometimes mistaken for a Creator/DonBluth movie, which it isn't. Its posters and trailers, which proudly proclaimed "from the creator of WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail" would have you think otherwise. It doesn't help that James Horner actually did compose the soundtracks for the first ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime Land Before Time]]'' film along with this. (In a ''literal'' invocation of All Animation is Disney, Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox would end up being bought by Creator/{{Disney}}, resulting in Disney technically owning the film despite having nothing to do with it and the 20th Century Fox branding still being on the print of the film.)

* TastesLikeDiabetes: Michelle is way too cute. You cannot resist.

* ViewerGenderConfusion: Abigail is not immediately identifiable as a female for some, due to her tomboyish personality, short hair, and gender-neutral clothing.

* AllAnimationIsDisney: Besides being mistaken for a Disney movie, it is also sometimes mistaken for a Creator/DonBluth movie, which it isn't. Its posters and trailers, which proudly proclaimed "from the creator of WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail" would have you think otherwise. It doesn't help that James Horner actually did compose the soundtracks for the first ''[[Film/TheLandBeforeTime Land Before Time]]'' film along with this.
** In a ''literal'' invocation of All Animation is Disney, Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox would end up being bought by Creator/{{Disney}}, resulting in Disney technically owning the film despite having nothing to do with it and the 20th Century Fox branding still being on the print of the film.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs1rTn81ODQ "Once Upon a Time With Me".]]

* EnsembleDarkHorse: Phineas. It helps that he was voiced by Ben Vereen.

* HilariousInHindsight: Edgar calls a car a "monster", which is what the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' characters call cars and other vehicles ten years later.

* {{Moe}}: Michelle, of course!

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The part where the group comes across the flock of birds, and has to save a young bird named Bosworth, who’s stuck in a mud puddle. This section really doesn't contribute anything to the story, except comic relief and to introduce the concept of "the Yellow Dragons."

* CultClassic: Has a modest fanbase, mostly comprised of people who saw it within the first few years of release and still enjoy it now

* RetroactiveRecognition: .

* ClicheStorm: The film is a pretty standard and straightforward HerosJourney story, complete with obligatory GreenAesop.

* {{Padding}}: The scene with the wrens sticks out the most. Even with it in there, the film clocks in with a length of seventy-one minutes.

* {{Padding}}: The scene with the wrens sticks out the most.
* RetroactiveRecognition:

* AllAnimationIsDisney: Besides being mistaken for a Disney movie, it is also sometimes mistaken for a Creator/DonBluth movie, which it isn't. Its posters and trailers, which proudly proclaimed "from the creator of WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail" would have you think otherwise. It doesn't help that James Horner actually did compose the soundtracks for the first ''[[Film\TheLandBeforeTime Land Before Time]]'' film along with this.

* AllAnimationIsDisney: Besides being mistaken for a Disney movie, it is also sometimes mistaken for a Creator/DonBluth movie, which it isn't. Its posters and trailers, which proudly proclaimed "from the creator of WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail" would have you think otherwise.