The Pagemaster

Image credit: Wikipedia

One of the most wonderful –and at the same time terrible- things about re-visiting movies from one’s childhood as an adult is when they prove to stand (or not stand) the test of time are just as good as you remember them. One of my current guilty pleasures is finding old, nostalgic family movies from my childhood on Netflix and revisiting them. The last one I did, A Troll in Central Park proved to not be so good, but last night I revisited The Pagemaster and I regret nothing!

This animated delight tells the story of young Richie Tyler (Macaulay Culkin), a neurotic boy with no friends, who gets caught in a thunderstorm and runs into a library to escape. Once inside, he stumbles into an adventure he could never have imagined as he and three new friends, Adventure, Horror, and Fantasy, travel through the labyrinth of books, as well as face all sorts of dangers, to find the exit.

Being a lover of literature and classic stories as an adult, I probably enjoyed this movie more now than I did when I was a child. What’s nicest about the movie is its open-ended conclusion, which is a perfect depiction of the uncertainties of life. The central transformation journey of Richie from timid and neurotic loner to proportionately brave and unburdened normal kid is really lovely to watch, and while the story does not tie up the knots of Richie’s not having any friends into a neat little bow, it definitely hammers home to the film’s main point of not worrying that the worst will happen.

Then we have just all of the classic literary references that have inspired me to go to my bookshelf and finally take down those classics that I’ve somehow avoided reading thus far. The idea that some stories and characters are so good that they come right off the page is taken rather literally in this movie, as Richie and his companions find themselves encountering a bunch of iconic characters and dangers including the hound of the Baskervilles, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Long John Silver, and Moby Dick.

Image credit: whatwerewewatching.com

The switch from live-action to animation, although a little dated and janky, still stands up, and then we have this wonderfully weird cast that brings the whole thing together.

Considering that I hadn’t thought about this movie for over twenty years, I am really elated and happy that it exists and stands the test of time. It really is a fun and adorable movie!

Director: Pixote Hunt, 1994

Cast: Macaulay Culkin, Christopher Lloyd, Patrick Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, Frank Welker, Jim Cummings, Mel Harris, and Ed Begley Jr.