Der Pagemaster - Richies fantastische Reise

This was my favourite film as a kid. Being born the year it came out, I think i spent the majority of 1998 watching it as that is when my brain developed enough to remember a movie. I honestly remember sitting there in my lounge room literally wishing there would be a sequel or a longer version somewhere out there because even as a toddler there were still parts of the film frustrated the hell out of me. I wanted to see Richard at school, get better sense of his lack of friends and worried, overly cautious nature. I wanted him to have a girl he liked, or someone he wanted to impress, that he could after his adventures with the books. I wanted more Christopher Lloyd. I wanted the areas of the journey he embarked upon to go longer than about 15 minutes each, I wanted more jokes and maybe a few more characters for them to meet along the way. I also would have liked more books to pop up, maybe like action or something like that. Even just a little cameo would have been cool.

All that being said, what I was left with, I loved. More than anything. James Horner's score is easily my favourite of all time and summarises my awesome childhood. Macaulay Culkin was always my hero. I was delighted he was the star of this. It was a hell of a lot better than richie rich. Yeesh. The visuals were terrific and it really did have a sense of wonder. The very short runtime however, stopped it from being a real classic. Man oh man that was a small tragedy as a kid. It filled me with a rich sadness, because I didn't want the story to end. It did make me feel as hard as i think i ever felt as a child though, and for that, I cant fault it. Plus the bike scene made me want to jump 10 feet in the air with happiness.

Okay, in 1994 I was obsessed with Macaulay Culkin. When I saw a trailer for this film, I couldn't wait to see it. When I went to see it though, my family and I were the only ones in the theatre! The same thing happened to my aunt and my cousins. I remember loving the film. I wanted that awesome bike he had. I got the videogame, and I got my copy on video. AND JAMES HORNER'S SCORE WAS AMAZING! I thought it was a good movie that had all the genres, even cooler that it was live action/animation. It's sad about it's bomb at the box office. It's quite a forgettable film, but I love it and I still do. Don't forget that Joe Johnston who is now quite acclaimed directed the live action scenes. Great for him.

Why such a low rating? A movie with such good intentions and well made characters deserve more love.

I was so into the idea from the start, and the message about facing your own fear was well woven into a classic fairy-tale trope of going through 3 tests.

Of course you'll get the most out of the movie if you know all the references to classic books like Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Treasure Island, Alice in Wonderland, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Moby Dick, etc., but I think that's what makes The Pagemaster a good family movie. Kids can get entertained by the lively animated characters and relate to Macauly Culkin's role while adults can enjoy the clever use of historic literature.

The different segments of literary genres could've been both deeper and wider had the movie been just fifteen or so minutes longer, because honestly, it was a little rushed at times, but that's my only complaint about it. The segments were fine as they were, but could've made more out of its source material.

The animation was pretty good at times. Also a little dated sometimes, but the horror segment and that of fantasy actually had a grand feel to it. The dragon was my favorite simply because of the massive presence it had. It really felt BIG.

The anthropomorphic books were also cute and clever in their interactions. Some may find them annoying, but Whoopi Goldberg,Patrick Stewart and Frank Welker brought them to life with exellence.

An underated family movie which deserves more attention. Entertaining, educational and heartwarming

"The Pagemaster" may have been the only really good movie that Macaulay Culkin ever did. Playing accident-obsessed youngster Richard Tyler, who goes to the library and gets transferred into a world of horror, fantasy and adventure, he makes the most of the role. Patrick Stewart (a pirate-like book named Adventure), Whoopi Goldberg (a fairy-like book named Fantasy) and Frank Welker (a maladroit book named Horror) show themselves to be as adept in these kinds of movies as they are in their normal roles, as does Christopher Lloyd (the librarian and the Pagemaster).

All in all, this movie really shows you how much there is to read. I think that my favorite scene was the whole Jekyll and Hyde sequence - although the dripping painting was also pretty impressive. A very well done movie. Also starring Ed Begley Jr., Mel Harris, and the voices of Leonard Nimoy, Dorian Harewood and Phil Hartman.

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