By Scott Blakey

There have been numerous attempts over the last 20 years or so to arouse through videos the sympathy of children for the plight of wildlife and rain forests, which are being pushed ever closer to the brink by human rapaciousness and encroachment on natural habitat.

Some, like "Watership Down" (released in 1982), have succeeded beyond the producers' wildest hopes, while others, such as "FernGully ... the Last Rainforest" (1992), are so wretched they practically make one cheer for the bulldozer and the chain saw.

The most recent attempt, aimed at viewers 5 through 8, is the Anglo-French work, "Journey Home: The Animals of Farthing Wood" (BBC Home Video, 1998, animation, color, 90 minutes, closed captioned, $14.98) and it lies just about in the middle. It is nowhere near as good, either in story line, drama or animation, as "Watership Down," but it is superior to "FernGully."

One of the ironies here is that "Journey Home" is distributed in the United States by Fox Home Entertainment, which brought us "FernGully" and is offering rebates if you buy this video along with the other, and an even bigger bonus if you also buy the sequel, "FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue." It is no bargain.

The premise is shopworn, simple and clearly stated -- by the Fox, one of the leading characters -- at the beginning of the video as the opening titles roll: "Farthing Wood had been our home since the first stream flowed through the forest and the tall trees grew to protect us. But then the humans came, and everything changed."

Cut to scenes of bulldozers and backhoes, chain saws and falling trees clearing land and filling marshes for a new housing development. Watching the carnage from a hillock, Badger, one of the Wood's elders, shakes his head in shock and dismay. He asks the Owl, perched nearby and noshing on a dead mouse, how many homes have been lost this day?

"Half a dozen semi-detached burrows," comes the reply, "three fully furnished squirrel holes and at least 15 immaculately kept nests. (CRASH!) Oh, 16."

While the animals are in no immediate danger from the machinery, the filling of the marsh has all but cut off the animals' water supply.

Owl warns: "If we don't find a new watering home in the next few days ..."

"... We're going to have to kiss our fur and feathers good-bye. I think you know what I mean," Fox concludes.

The elders call an assembly to which all the animals come. It is the globe-trotting Toad who arrives at the solution. He has recently visited a faraway place called "White Deer Park," a nature preserve "where all wild creatures are protected by humans." While some conservationists may have opinions about such, the animals conclude it is their last, best and only hope. The animals also take a vow, at the urging of Hare, to forgo for the time being their predatory instincts and not "frighten, terrorize or consume one another."

They elect Toad to be guide and Fox leader and begin a trek nearly as arduous as that of the children of Israel in the desert.

There is a ferocious storm, a dangerous, wide river and an even more dangerous four-lane highway to cross; the animals are trapped in a barn and later in a church where a wedding is about to be performed; they are pursued by dogs, and Fox -- and a lady friend he picks up along the way -- is almost done in by a thundering pack of mounted, red-coated hunters.

Fox and Badger nearly drown in the river, and the pheasants, Mr. and Mrs., are blasted to kingdom come by a farmer, events which parents may want to take a little time explaining to their youngsters. Humans don't fare well here.

There is, to borrow a phrase, more sizzle than steak, and the messages about encroachment of habitat and threats to wildlife are all but swallowed up by the exhaustive rigors of the journey and the chase(s). Some noble speeches do appear at the end, but I suspect even the hardiest young viewers will be glad when "Farthing Wood" fades to black.

(c) 1998, Scott Blakey. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate