The Pagemaster (1994)

A cowardly boy, who buries himself in accident statistics, enters a library to escape a storm, only to be transformed into an animated illustration by the Pagemaster. He has to work through obstacles from classic books to return to real-life.

Directors:

Pixote Hunt (as Maurice Hunt), Joe Johnston

Writers:

David Kirschner (story), David Casci (story)

Stars:

Macaulay Culkin, Christopher Lloyd, Kanin Howell

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Macaulay Culkin	...	Richard Tyler
Kanin Howell	...	Neighborhood Kid (as Canan J. Howell)
Alexis Kirschner	...	Neighborhood Kid
Jessica Kirschner	...	Neighborhood Kid
Guy Mansker	...	Neighborhood Kid
Brandon S. McKay	...	Neighborhood Kid (as Brandon McKay)
Stephen Sheehan	...	Neighborhood Kid
Ed Begley Jr.	...	Alan Tyler
Mel Harris	...	Claire Tyler
Christopher Lloyd	...	Mr. Dewey / The Pagemaster
Patrick Stewart	...	Adventure (voice)
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Fantasy (voice)
Frank Welker	...	Horror (voice)
Leonard Nimoy	...	Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde (voice)
George Hearn	...	Captain Ahab (voice)

Storyline

This is the story of a young boy named Richard Tyler, who spouts statistics about the possibility of accidents. So much so, he is scared to do anything that might endanger him, like riding his bike, or climbing into his treehouse. While riding his bike home, Richard finds shelter from a storm inside a nearby library. Richard slips and is knocked unconscious while exploring a rotunda in the library. Upon awakening, he is led on a journey through conflicts and events that resemble fictional stories, keeping him from finding the exit from the library.

---

Plot Keywords:

dr. henry jekyll character | mr edward hyde character | queen of hearts character | rain | library | 

---

Taglines:

All the adventure your imagination can hold.

---

Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Horror

---

Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 November 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Pagemaster

Filming Locations:

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$27,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$56,300,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Turner Pictures (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

There are two video game adaptations of this movie. One is a typical run-and-jump 2-D side-scrolling platformer with levels based on the movie, where the goal is to collect all of the missing pages from books to get the best ending. The other is a PC point-and-click adventure game that adapts, and vastly expands the story from the movie, especially the Fantasy section that now includes Olympus together with gods and creatures from Greek mythology, parts of Wonderland from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and an area with several classic fables including The Three Little Pigs. This game also features Frankenstein's Monster, a popular character that was present in the book, on which the movie was based, but cut from the final movie.

---

Goofs

One of the books Richard looks at while inside the dragon is "Alice in Wonderland". The exact name of Lewis Carroll's book is "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".

---

Quotes

[First lines during the opening scene]
Claire Tyler: [offscreen; in bed] Alan, every ten-year-old is afraid of something.
Alan Tyler: [offscreen; in bed] The kid's afraid of tuna-fish sandwitches.
Claire Tyler: Mercury levels in the tuna.
Alan Tyler: Whatever.
Claire Tyler: Alan, the world is a frightening place to him right now. I think we could be a little more supportive.
Alan Tyler: Supportive? I'm the most supportive father on earth, but I'm running out of supportive things to do. I signed him up for Little League, he drove everybody crazy with statistics about how you...
[...]

---

Crazy Credits

The original VHS release of the film contained a sneak preview of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie prior to the film.

---

Connections

References Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)

---

Soundtracks

Dream Away
Written by Diane Warren
Produced by David Foster
Performed by Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds (as Babyface) and Lisa Stansfield
Babyface courtesy of Epic Records
Lisa Stansfield courtesy of Arista Records, Inc. and BMG Eurodisc Ltd.
David Foster courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corporation

User Reviews

Part of my childhood

Just because something is part of my childhood doesn't mean it's good, and this movie is really not a great animated film. It's got a nice message, and it looks good, but the premise of jumping from storybook to storybook gets tiring by the end.

Richard Tyler (McCaulay Culkin) is a scaredy cat who's always getting picked on. On a stormy night he gets stuck in a library, and ends up animated with several book friends. He meets Fantasy (Whoopie Goldberg), Adventure (Patrick Stewart) and Horror (Frank Welker), and he goes through many famous books. The plot is very slim, and kind of just jumps around from book to book, but it actually works very well. This also has a great musical score and it manages to make the movie sad at times. Unlike many animated films, you actually come to like the characters by the end, and that's hard to do.

"The Pagemaster" is a very underrated, good animated movie that will appeal to kids and will amuse adults.

My rating: *** out of ****. 70 mins. Rated G