The Pagemaster (1994)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Directors:

Pixote Hunt
Joe Johnston

Writers (WGA):

David Kirschner (story) and
David Casci (story) ...

Release Date:

23 November 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

All The Adventure Your Imagination Can Hold.

Plot:

This is the story of a young boy named Richard Tyler, who finds shelter from a storm inside a nearby library...

Plot Keywords:

Library | Book | Young Boy | Treehouse | Escape

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Macaulay Culkin	...	Richard Tyler
Canan J. Howell	...	Neighborhood Kid
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)

Runtime:

80 min | Argentina:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:L | South Korea:All | Philippines:G | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:K-8 | Germany:6 (w) | Norway:11 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:U | USA:G

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Frank Welker and Leonard Nimoy appear together in this movie. This is the third time they have appeared together, but the only time that Frank does not take over as Nimoy's character.

Goofs:

Continuity: Richard never regains his jacket in the library.

Quotes:

Adventure: I wrote the book on sailing. In fact, I *am* the book on sailing.

Movie Connections:

References Treasure Island (1950)

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