Once Upon a Forest: Secrets of Dapplewood (also known as Once Upon a Forest 2) is a 2019 British-American animated adventure comedy film directed by David Kirschner (in his directorial debut) and written by D.A. Nichols, Abbey Thickson, Josh Appelbaum, and Andre Nemec. It is the sequel to 1993's Once Upon a Forest and based on the Furlings characters created by Rae Lambert, and features the returning cast of Michael Crawford and Ben Vereen but features a new cast consisting of Nola Fulk, Jibrail Nantambu, and Jackson Robert Scott. New additions to the cast include Anya Taylor-Joy, Eric Christian Olsen, Megan Charpentier, Millie Bobby Brown, Jodi Benson, and Embeth Davidtz.
The film was released onto the NicThic Stream service on October 4, 2019, and released theatrically on November 8, 2019.
Plot[]
The story begins with a flashback when Abigail Woodley was born to her mother, Joanna Woodley. That night, she soothes baby Abigail with a beautiful lullaby that she wrote. 12 years later, A 12-year-old Abigail attends the wise Cornelius Badgerlo's school with her friends, the confident and organized Edgar, the lazy, quirky and humble Russell, the wise, optimistic and disciplined Michelle Badgerlo and two new students starting their first day of school; the tomboyish Emily Ringslow, and the courageous Willy.
After a flashback of how he came up with the Flapper Wing-a-Ma Thing, Cornelius starts a Show and Tell, beginning with Michelle's cool sculpture of her friends that she made, then Emily showed her guitar and played her song on it, then Russell showed his new flower vase to reveal that he has a hobby in pottery, then Edgar showed his book, The Unknown History of Dapplewood, a book about the history of this beautiful forest and how it began, Abigail then brings in her Glistening Lily that she kept ever since she was a kid, and Willy then showed his mouse plushy that he snuggles with ever since he was 2 years old.
After class in the evening, Abigail and her friends went over to the riverbank to play hide and seek. When Russell (who was the finder) finds Abigail up in the tree, he sees her looking up to the sky, remembering her mother, who loved her like a delicate little flower. She remembered that fateful day that her mother was killed by the same owl that captured Abigail a few years later. She then remembered the time that she heard her mother talk about a mysterious place beyond Dapplewood called Sherlay's Fountain, a magical fountain that reveals all their truths and desires through their hearts, with her father, Vince Woodley. Russell then talks about his relationship with his family, and how they never gave him some respect, but how he still loves them. Abigail and Russell then fall from the tree and tell their friends about the fountain. Russell tells them that it created by people ten years ago and enhanced with magic by Sherlay Skunkiell. Excited about the trip to the fountain, Michelle decided to tell her aunt, Dana and her uncle about the fountain. They both agree on the idea of a new adventure and Dana was also working on an improved version of the Flapper Wing-a Ma Thing, and that it was almost finished.
The next morning, the improved flying machine was completed and the Furlings got in and flew into the sky. While in the sky, they spotted a sapphire blue train on the tracks and decided to follow it to see where it goes. The Flapper Wing-a Ma Thing lands on top of one of the cargo cars and started to look at the landscape, with Emily talking about her family and about how she lived on the other side of the road. At the train station, the Furlings in their flying machine flew off the cargo car and into the forest where they found a clearing and a lot of wrens. The flying machine starts to land, which scares off most of the wrens. Here they eventually meet an optimistic, beautiful and sweet robin named Olive, who was talking to an honest, selfless and clever vole named James. The Furlings asked if they knew where Sherlay's Fountain is and Olive tells them that it's far beyond the meadowlands and Lake Everthicket in Fernmaple Forest. The Furlings along with James and Olive then flew into the meadowlands, where they meet many of the animals that they've met in their first journey, including an arrogant, resentful, and sly squirrel named Waggs, who recently got himself a beautiful, sophisticated, sarcastic and sassy girlfriend named Willa. The squirrels soon challenge Russell to a little dance competition that ended with Russell winning. The animals then invite the Furlings to stay for dinner up in the tree, once at the table, they meet Phineas the preacher, who is Olive's cousin, Bosworth the owl that was stuck in the oil three years earlier and his mother.
After dinner, the Furlings and others went to bed, Waggs then comes in the Furlings' room and requests them a simple task of finding her long lost sister, the spunky, kind, and mature Wendy. They reluctantly agreed to this unusual task, unbeknownst to them that there's more to it than that. The next cloudy morning, the Furlings, took off on the Flapper Wing-a Ma Thing to the eventually rainy skies. Suddenly, the flying machine was struck by lightning and it crash-lands right next to a large cave. The Furlings go inside the cave, along with the body of the Flapper Wing-a Ma Thing, to stay dry from the rain. As they walked further into the really beautiful cave, Edgar talks about how her mother tries to take care of him after her husband died of food poisoning and that they had moved out of Willowbrook. After encountering several mishaps along the way, including an ice slide, they reach the second path of the cave with several cave paintings made by the humans. They soon stumble upon a large hole, which they fell into, leading into a slide down to the sea. The Furlings use the body and the remaining parts of the Flapper Wing-a Ma Thing as a boat to row over to shore.
During the ride, they come across some Spider Sirens that tried to seduce the Furlings to danger, but Emily and Michelle managed to steer the boat clear away from the sirens, but Russell got stabbed in the arm in the process. When they finally made it to the shore, the Furlings pushed onward to the fountain, then they'd come across a scary weasel that tried to eat them, but it suddenly transformed into an apple. The Furlings then soon meet a spunky, intelligent, and fun-loving squirrel named Wendy, who tells them that she wasn't Waggs' sister, Willa is. She also explains that when their family and others were moving to the meadowlands, they came across a bridge over a raging river. Waggs (who was 10 at the time) pushed her off the bridge and into the river, where she was rescued by the quite stern, pretty honorable and strong, plus rational and friendly skunk named Sherlay and became her assistant to learn a lot about magic.
The Furlings, Wendy, and Sherlay come across a construction site where the Yellow Dragons are. Her fountain is actually on the other side of the site. The group then sneaked out to the site, when suddenly a Yellow Dragon started to chase them across the site. When the Yellow Dragon finally corners the group, the Yellow Dragon suddenly falls into a sinkhole that the group runs away from, but they fell in as well. Then, Abigail suddenly sprouts dragonfly wings and carries the group, one by one, out of the sinkhole. While the group continues their trek to the fountain, Abigail begins to wonder how she sprouted such cute wings out of the blue.
The Furlings and Wendy then come across a row of Peony Communicators, flowers that can communicate to the dead via magical spores, where Abigail finally gets to talk with her mother 8 years later after she was killed. Joanna then whispers to her that she can also do magic as well as herself. Abigail then became shocked that her mother never told her about that, which she tells her it wasn't the right time to tell her about it, Joanna then explains that she was born with magic, as she was too. Joanna then asks Abigail to pick her peony up from the ground and carry it to Sherlay's Fountain to learn how to use her abilities.
At Sherlay's Fountain, Abigail learns from Joanna that she's a descendant of the Sorceress Mouse, Zalla, a feisty and headstrong dormouse that's always very philosophical about peace and understanding. This makes Abigail feel overwhelmed with shock and astonishment. She wonders why she has that kind of power and her friends don't, which is because they already have powers of their own; Edgar with his fondness for organization and planning, Russell with his compassion, charm and humor, Michelle with her sense of knowledge and wisdom, Willy with his love adventure and bravery, and Emily with her loyalty and passion. They leave the Fountain knowing that they have a friendship that's strengthened by the ropes of loyalty.
Using Michelle's wise and keen knowledge, they found a rowboat large to fit everyone, including Wendy. Sherlay decides to leave the group because she's an adventurer that wanders alone. So, the group leaves her as she prays for a wonderful future for the Furlings. They used the rowboat to get back to the other side of the lake. When they got to the Meadowlands where Emily dropped off Wendy, she was greeted with loving arms and Willa decides to dump Waggs for all the bullying he's done. Meanwhile, with the Furlings, when they return to Dapplewood, they were greeted with relief from Cornelius and Abigail's family. The group tells him what these past few days. Abigail then tells her family about her being a magician and a descendant of her great-grandmother, Zalla, a sorceress mouse. After about 30 minutes of their last play date with her, Abigail and her family bid farewell to all of the critters in Dapplewood to head for the Meadowlands in hopes for a new home. The Furlings and their neighbors look onto the future, in hopes that Abigail would return to the forest.
Voice Cast[]
- Michael Crawford as Cornelius, a badger who is the teacher of the Furlings and Michelle's uncle.
- Nathan Mack voices a young Cornelius.
- Ben Vereen as Phineas, a religious bird.
- Nola Fulk as Abigail, a young wood mouse and the leader of the Furlings. She was previously voiced by Ellen Blain in the first film.
- Jibrail Nantambu as Edgar, a young mole and the planner of the Furlings. He was previously voiced by Benji Gregory in the first film.
- Jackson Robert Scott as Russell, a young hedgehog and the doer of the Furlings. He was previously voiced by Paige Gosney in the first film.
- Anya Taylor-Joy as Emily, a young, cool and feisty raccoon and the new member of the Furlings.
- Abby Ryder Fortson as Michelle, a young badger who is Cornelius' maternal niece. She was previously voiced by Elisabeth Moss in the first film.
- Elisabeth Moss as Dana, Michelle's aunt and Cornelius' wife.
- Kaitlyn Maher voices a young Dana.
- Jodi Benson as Olive, a robin who aids the Furlings in their adventure.
- Winona Ryder as Sherlay Skunkiell, a skunk and the owner of the magic Sherlay's Fountain.
- David Kaye as Vince, Abigail's father. He was previously voiced by Paul Eiding in the first film.
- Embeth Davidtz as Joanna, Abigail's late mother who was a former Furling.
- Nicolas Cantu as Willy, a young field mouse and Abigail's love interest. He was previously voiced by Will Estes in the first film.
- Eric Christian Olsen as James, a vole who is a former Furling and a friend of Cornelius.
- Catherine Tate as Evie, Emily's mother.
- Christopher Eccleston as Ethan, Emily's father.
- Kim Zimmer as Reva, Emily's greedy aunt.
- Nicholas Hamilton as Waggs, a squirrel who bullies the Furlings. He was previously voiced by Charlie Adler in the first film.
- Millie Bobby Brown as Wendy, the spunky long lost sister of Waggs.
- Megan Charpentier as Willa, Waggs' girlfriend and assistant.
Additional Voices[]
- Dino Andrade - TBA
- Tim Bentinck - Fox
- Bronte Carmichael - Fuschia
- Sandra Searles Dickinson - Russell's Mother
- Alison Dowling - TBA
- Teresa Gallagher - TBA
- Jack Dylan Grazer - TBA
- Simon Greenall - Weasel
- Chloe Hawthorn - Female Squirrel #1
- Laurel Lefkow - Edgar's Mother
- Katie Lunman - Scared Skunk
- Jamie Marchi - TBA
- Jocelyn Mattka - Wilhelmina
- Patty Mattson - Bosworth's Mother
- Naomi McDonald - TBA
- Morgan McGarry - Female Mole Siren
- Sophia Miller - Young Abigail
- Sarah Natochenny - Zoey
- Isabelle Nélisse - Female Hedgehog Siren
- Mike Pollock - TBA
- Kasie Rayner - Whitney
- Alix Wilton Regan - TBA
- Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld - Kayley
- Nathanael Saleh - Bosworth
- Erica Schroeder - TBA
- Kerry Shale - Fenwick
- Stephanie Sheh - TBA
- Keith Silverstein - Buford
- Michael Sinterniklaas - TBA
- Emma Tate - Sebastian
- Rosie Taylor-Ritson - Female Squirrel #2
- Tom Wayland - TBA
- Keith Wickham - TBA
- Lara Wollington - TBA
- Jo Wyatt - TBA
Loop Group[]
- Steve Apostolina
- Kirk Baily
- Ryan Bartley
- Laila Berzins
- June Christopher
- Vicki Davis
- Brian T. Delaney
- Terri Douglas
- Jeffrey Todd Fischer
- Eddie Frierson
- Elisa Gabrielli
- Bridget Hoffman
- Rif Hutton
- Marabina Jaimes
- Yuri Lowenthal
- Mela Lee McLean
- Scott Menville
- David Michie
- Heidi Brook Myers
- Bryce Papenbrook
- Devika Parikh
- Jessica Pennington
- Jacqueline Pinol
- Cindy Robinson
- Al Rodrigo
- Justin Shenkarow
- Dennis Singletary
- Kelly Stables
- Shane Sweet
- Fred Tatasciore
- Matthew Wood
- Ruth Zalduondo
Furling Loop Group[]
- Ava Acres
- Rylee Alezraqui
- Holly J. Barrett
- Eva Bella
- Jadyn Blue
- Chloe B. Carlson
- Tucker Chandler
- Meilee Condron
- Madeleine Curry
- Charlie Duncan
- Miles Duncan
- Giselle Eisenberg
- Bailey E. Garcia
- Sam Gilbert
- Ane Hansen
- Hyrum T. Hansen
- Ilona Hansen
- Laya DeLeon Hayes
- Pele S. Howe
- Logan Kishi
- Leela Ladnier
- Mabel Rayner
- Andre Robinson
- Christina Robinson
- Carter Sand
- Cyren Saso
- Emma Shannon
- Jiana Williams
- ViviAnn Yee
- Ruby Zalduondo
- Calvin Zwicker
- Casey Zwicker
Production[]
Development[]
In June 2013, David Kirschner was approached of the possibility of a sequel to Once Upon a Forest. He stated, "Well, I haven't thought of anything yet, but I hope it would be an improvement." In March 2014, Kirschner stated that several story ideas were being considered for Once Upon a Forest 2. He later considered two ideas, one for a potential theatrical film, and one for a potential direct-to-video film.
In November 2016, during a Q&A on NicThic's films, D.A. Nichols and Abbey Thickson confirmed that a script for Once Upon a Forest 2 is in the works. They also said that they hope for the film to happen.
On February 5, 2018, Kirschner retweeted a tweet which states that the script for the film is being written, but at the current moment, there's no way to know if the movie will be made just yet. Returning to March 2018, he later revealed that production on the film had started, with him serving as director. He later confirmed that Nichols and Thickson were writing the script, and Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec were producing while also co-writing.
On February 21, 2019, Nichols and Thickson announced that the film would be released onto the streaming service NicThic Stream, with a release date scheduled for November 27, 2019. At the time of the announcement, they said on their blog that it would allow them to avoid "Gigli-like box office bomb headlines" and save money for not needing to promote the film. Nichols and Thickson later moved the release date to October 4, 2019, ahead of its theatrical release on November 8, 2019.
On June 17, 2019, it was announced that the film's official title was Once Upon a Forest: Secrets of Dapplewood.
Casting[]
On June 17, 2018, it was announced that the sequel would have a new voice cast, consisting of Nola Fulk as Abigail, Jibrail Nantambu as Edgar, Jackson Robert Scott as Russell, and Abby Ryder Fortson as Michelle. On August 21, 2018, it was announced that Michael Crawford and Ben Vereen would reprise their roles as Cornelius and Phineas respectively.
On September 6, 2018, it was confirmed that Eric Christian Olsen had joined the cast to voice a new character named James, a former furling and a close friend of Cornelius. The following month, Embeth Davidtz stepped in to voice another new character, Joanna, Abigail's late mother.
Animation[]
Most of the animation for the film was handled by NicThic Productions, Duncan Studio, Bardel Entertainment, Mercury Filmworks, and Yowza! Animation, with overseas production by A. Film Production A/S in Denmark, The Sergio Pablos Animation Studios in Spain, Wang Film Productions in Taiwan, and Toon City Animation in the Philippines and digital production services by Warner Bros. Animation.
Release[]
The film, originally titled, Once Upon a Forest: Return to Dapplewood, was initially set for a June 2016 release by 20th Century Fox. In January 2015, Fox shifted the date to July 2017, allowing more time for further work on the animation. On July 15, 2016, a week before the release of Ice Age: Collision Course, the release date was moved to June 28, 2019.
On February 21, 2019, a month before Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, it was announced that NicThic Stream will release the film on the Internet on October 4, 2019, while Disney will distribute it through 20th Century Fox in theaters on November 8, 2019.
Home media[]
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 23, 2020.
Marketing[]
Soundtrack[]
| Once Upon a Forest: Secrets of Dapplewood: Original Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
| Artist | Various |
| Genre | Unknown |
| Released | November 5, 2019 (soundtrack) November 12, 2019 (score) |
| Recorded | 2017-2019 |
| Length | Unknown |
| Label | NicThic Music |
| Producer | Steven Price Lorne Balfe |
The soundtrack for the movie will be released on November 5, 2019, through NicThic Music on iTunes. The album contains songs and musical scores from the film. Most of James Horner's score from the previous film was included and recomposed by Steven Price and Lorne Balfe. The score was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and Air Lyndhurst Studios and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra with choir by the London Voices and Cantillation.
Track listing[]
- "Once Upon a Time with Me" - Miranda Cosgrove and Elton John
- "Rise Up" - Kacey Musgraves
- "Because You Loved Me" - Nola Fulk
- "Main Titles" - Florence Warner Jones, Horner, and Will Jennings
- "My True Love" - Kacey Musgraves
- "He's Back" - Ben Vereen
- "In the Sun" - Nola Fulk
- "Abigail's Lullaby" - Embeth Davidtz
- "A Yellow-Striped Tulip" - Anya Taylor-Joy
Score album[]
The score album for the film was released on November 12, 2019, also through NicThic Music on iTunes.
- "Baby Abigail"
- "Main Titles"
- "Show and Tell"
- "The Riverbank"
- "The Hidden Secrets of Dapplewood"
- "The Quest Begins"
- "Finding the Train"
- "The Wrens"
- "Running from the Yellow Dragons/The Sinkhole"
- "The Meadow/Waggs"
- "The Hidden Caves"
- "A Wild Slide Ride"
- "Checking Out the Cave Paintings"
- "Out to Sea"
- "Siren Spiders"
More coming soon!
Reception[]
The film has received very much critical acclaim from critics and audiences.
Sequels[]
At the Once Upon a Forest: Secrets of Dapplewood panel at the San Diego Comic-Con 2019, story writers Sammy Delcatta and Geraldo Thaddeus said that they have written up some drafts for two new sequels to this movie. One of the sequels, Once Upon a Forest: Enter the Magic River, has been announced.