Once Upon a Forest is virtually indistinguishable from James Horner's other early-'90s forays into the animated family film genre: a few treacly vocal tracks, a few overbaked themes and a whole lot of melodies and ideas eerily familiar to anyone with even a passing knowledge of Horner's output. Recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, Once Upon a Forest boasts the melodramatic string arrangements one expects from Horner, although there's a sense of feel-good buoyancy here absent from most of the composer's efforts in the children's genre. He's Back, a big band-era homage featuring vocals by Ben Vereen, ranks easily among Horner's most ebullient moments. No less effective is Please Wake Up, a pairing with Broadway star Michael Crawford. But the instrumental cues are shopworn, recalling previous Horner scores like The Land Before Time and We're Back!: A Dinosaur's Story, and if you've heard one, you've heard 'em all.