The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 72

Not lost ther ano 0 4 dfSlllia Harsh reality dominates this brassy tale of a bright young woman with a lot to learn about herself. By Bob Ross BLACK FILMMAKERS ARE on a roll. Just look how many are bringing their energy and insight to the big screen lately. Spike Lee gave us a historical epic in "Malcolm Reginald Hudlin made the traditional comedy-romance "Boomerang" and Bill Duke has explored both the violent cop-thriller and the heartwarming ensemble Cemetery Three young animals must find a cure for an ill friend in "Once Upon a Forest." Fwizzy if or ett aoitosy Adventure aims for youngest audience There are more: John Singleton the Robert Townsend Shuffle," the upcoming "Meteor Ernest Dickerson Mario van Peebles Jack City," Matty Rich Out of and Charles Burnett Sleep With help demonstrate that some old barriers are indeed falling. So, what's wrong with this picture? They are all men.

Granted, a handful of white women (such as Penny Marshall, Nora Ephron, Penelope Spheeris, Kathryn Bigelow, Randa Haines, Martha Coolidge and Nancy Savoca) have crashed the boys-only club and are now directing Hollywood features. But only one movie claims to be "the Continued on Page 36 By Bob Ross You just know that the children will have to use Cornelius' technology during their adventures. The bearded badger likes to take his charges on nature walks to study the life and lore of their home, a forest named Dannlewnod. He teaches them important to 01 things such as to respect the environment i i 1 1 NOW PLAYING WHAT: Once Upon a Forest CRITIC'S RATING: MOVIE BOARD RATING: STARS: Voices of Michael Crawford and Ben Vereen DIRECTOR: Charles Grosvenor PLOT SUMMARY: Young animals must venture afar to find precious medicine for a friend. RUNNING TIME: 70 minutes WHERE: For locations, see Movie Shorts, Page 17; see Page 15 for movie times.

Movies are rated from zero to four stars. 3 si (0 Jk A and to avoid animal traps. One day's hike is interrupted by an ecological accident: A tanker truck full of chemicals has a blowout and crashes into the trees. Deadly fumes befog the forest Some animals perish, most flee for their lives and babv badger Michelle plunges in to a coma from which she will not recov er unless her friends can find the rare herbs that will save her. Of course, with half of Dapplewood fried bv Doison eas.

Abigail. Edgar and i Russell will have to venture into a differ SO YOUR KIDS are too young andor sensitive to sit through a monster movie such as "Jurassic Park." You'd rather show them a softer, cuddlier movie this weekend something with cute little creatures, mild little adventures and modest little messages. If, for any reason, you care to take children to a real theater to watch stuff that's innocuous and inexpensive enough to appear on Saturday morning television, then "Once Upon a Forest" is custom made for you. Its flat backgrounds, feeble scriptwrit-ing and dreary pacing remind us that "animated" doesn't always mean lively. Sometimes, the word simply stands for a cheap format and a condescending attitude.

On the other hand, this gentle fable scores high in sincerity and political correctness: It's about young forest creatures who must venture into unknown territory to find rare herbal cures that will save the life of a friend. Although the credits say it is "based on the Welsh story created by Rae Lambert," this is a modern forest with feisty, American-type inhabitants. The four main kiddie characters are Abigail the wood mouse (voice by Ellen Blain), Edgar the mole (Ben Gregory), Russell the hedgehog (Paige Gosney) and Michelle the badger (Elizabeth Moss). Abigail is a mischievous tomboy Edgar is brainy but clumsy, Russell Jnds tp roll lip in, a crisjs, and Michelle is just preciously sweet So much for character development. ent forest to locate the medicinal eye-brieht and lungwort plants they need.

"Avoid the humans," Cornelius advis es them, "and try to work together." The young folks have plenty of fears to conquer. A vicious predator owl, for examole. almost gets away with one of them, but the other two are able to climb to the rescue. Along the way, they meet a gospel-sineine Dreacher named Phineas. This Clearly, the point of the film is to show us that these critters can handle a life-threatening crisis and emerge from the experience as better animals.

At first, these adorable four-legged tykes do nothing more dangerous than study at the feet of the film's patriarchal presence, Michelle's kindly Uncle Cornelius, voiced by Broadway star Michael Crawford. (Yes, Crawford sings a song or two, but they're not quite up to his "Les Miserables" standard.) Cornelius, who calls his pupils "furl-ings," gives them classroom lectures about things they need to know, and he even shows them a working scale model of his latest 'invention: a flying machine he calls a wing-a-ma-thing. gives Ben Vereen a chance to sing an An- I JL drae Crouch song the rums musical highlight. Like its generic-sounding title, "Once Upon a Forest" tries to make a virtue of blandness. Even the villains faceless humans wearing hard hats and driving 1 1 lL n.

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