The Pagemaster Review

We all know who Macaulay Culkin is, Home Alone kid. It’s easy to forget him in almost every other movie he’s been in. Including, but not limited to, Pagemaster, Little Rascals, My Girl, and The Good Son.

Side Note: If you’ve never seen the Good Son, you can skip it. Don’t ask why, just trust me.

Moving on, The Pagemaster.

It’s the story of a boy, Richard Taylor whose life is ruled by statistics and fear. One day while running an errand on a pretty dorky looking bike even for the 1990’s, he escapes a sudden storm in a library; where he’s swept off into a thrilling and fantastic adventure. In cartoon form. I mean, as an illustration.

This part may sound a little confusing if you have not seen this movie, so I’ll do the best that I can. Rich meets three books that have arms and legs and eyes, and it would be truly disturbing if this movie was in live-action all the way through or if it was re-made in just the CG animation today. Adventure has a peg leg, a huge Tom Selleck mustache, and a hook hand. Fantasy had fairy wings, a wand, and glass slippers. Horror is all torn up and reminds me of Igor from Frankenstein.

Shockingly, it’s pretty mediocre even for the 90s.

That may be what makes it entertaining to those of us who love to relive our childhood and can feel nostalgic for the things that bring us simple joys.

I grew up with a love of reading, so when I saw this movie I loved trying to name all the literary references.

Also, I think people forget how many people voiced characters in this movie.

Christopher Lloyd - Mr. Dewey/the Pagemaster

Sir Patrick Stewart - Adventure

Whoopi Goldberg - Fantasy

Frank Welker - Horror

Leonard Nimoy - Dr. Jeykll/Mr. Hyde

How can you top that cast? Honestly. I think Whoopi Goldberg should be in everything, she has amazing lines in this film:

“He’s Adventure!”

“Mhmm that’s what all men say.”

And a lot of really cheesy lines but honestly you shouldn’t expect anything less than super nacho cheese for this movie.

While the plot can be lacking at times and some scenes feel so rushed that they’d make your head spin, one thing that does keep you hooked is the animation.

It’s not a Disney film, and it’s not by one of the Disney Defectors; but it does feel like a cross between the two. It’s silly and childish at times, but then it gets dark and semi-disturbing at others. Watching Jekyll turn into Hyde is somehow fascinating to see and terrifying. It does feel like they are bordering on ripping off a lot of Disney music though.

I’m honestly not sure how much is hand-drawn and how much is computer generation, you can tell they use a combination of both though. But it’s married up in such a way that makes it semi-hypnotic.

I’m not sure any amount of quotable lines and fascinating animation can save the basic plotline though.

Rich is dominated by fear for the first few scenes of his adventure, fantasy, and horrors stories. After only about ten minutes of being with all the (literally) book characters, when he fears he’s lost them forever he calls them the only friends he ever had. I’m sorry but did we really need that line? That’s super depressing.

But soon they’re all reunited and move on their merry way through a hoard of pirates, a whale, tron fairies, a beige dragon, and an incredibly cheesy slow song sequence.

Of course, it ends with Rich learning to live with risk in his life and meet it head on; and learning to love fictional books that teach him how to be brave. After all, how can we learn to defeat our dragons if we never heard of the brave heroes who defeat them?

Overall, I enjoy pretty terrible movies from my childhood. This movie reminds me of a modern version of the Wizard of Oz, where the hero must learn something in order to get home and has to survive life-threatening situations while they do it. Because how else would you learn a lesson without enough adrenaline pumping through your veins to lift a Greyhound Bus?