The Pagemaster

The Pagemaster was a live action/animated film released by 20th Century Fox on November 23, 1994. It was directed by Jurassic Parks Joe Johnston (live action) and Maurice Hunt (animation).

Related Topics:
Animated film - 20th Century Fox - November 23 - 1994 - Jurassic Park - Joe Johnston - Maurice Hunt

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The film tells the story of a young boy named Richard Tyler (Played by Macaulay Culkin), who is very cautious and timid, and crazy about keeping himself safe ansd scared of a lot of things. His father tries to encourage his son, but all his attemps fail. After an accident in a treehouse, courtesy of Richard's constant talk about statistics, Alan Tyler sends his son out to fetch some nails. On the way, Richard gets caught in a storm and finds shelter in a library. Here he meets Mr. Dewey (Played by Christopher Lloyd), who believes Richard is in his library for a fiction book. But all Richard needs is a phone to ring his parents and return to his world of safety. Dewey instructs Richard to go to through the library, and the telephone is in the fiction section. He also gives Richard a Library Card.

Related Topics:
Macaulay Culkin - Treehouse - Statistics - Library - Christopher Lloyd - Fiction - Library Card

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Richard wanders through the library until he comes to a retundra. He suddenly slips and falls unconsious. After waking, Tyler is chased throughout the library by a tsunami of paint from the retundra, created by visual effects. He gets caught in the wave and becomes an illustration and the library becomes a fantasy world where characters of famous books come to life.

Related Topics:
Retundra - Tsunami - Illustration

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Richard meets The Pagemaster, who is really Mr. Dewey. The Pagemaster sends Tyler on an adventure to unleash the courage hidden deep within Richard's heart.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Richard soon meets The Pagemaster's loyal servants. First is the swashbuckling Adventure (voiced by Patrick Stewart), a swackbuckling pirate book, who unleashes the giant squid from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea on Richard. Richard then meets, Fantasy (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg), a hotheaded fairy tale book. The three flee from the Hound of the Baskervilles and stumble into the horror section of the library, which has been morphed into an enormous graveyard. The trio find a haunted house with the EXIT sign above it. They then meet Horror, a "hunchbook" (a cross between a hunchback and a book). He seems to be scared of everything, like Richard and wishes to have a happy ending.

Related Topics:
Adventure - Patrick Stewart - 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea - Fantasy - Whoopi Goldberg - Fairy tale - Hound of the Baskervilles - Haunted house - Horror - Hunchback

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The four enter the house and meet Dr. Jekyll, who foolishly drinks a potion and becomes the monstrous Mr. Hyde. The group manage to escape Hyde, who falls into the basement, and they flee the house, Richard also making a big reference to The Legend of Tarzan.

Related Topics:
Dr. Jekyll - Mr. Hyde - The Legend of Tarzan

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The gang then arrive in the land of adventure, where they find a rowing boat and meet Captain Ahab who is hunting for Moby Dick. Moby Dick attacks Ahab and Richard and the books. Richard and Adventure get separated from Horror and Fantasy, and meet Long John Silver and his crew of pirates. They arrive at Treasure Island and discover the treasure they are searching for is gone! Fantasy and Horror appear just as the pirates are about to blow eachother to pieces, and John Silver retreats when Richard threatens him with a sword. The gang have a fallout, and Richard has lost his library card. Adventure manages to find it, and also discovers Horror in a plot similar to Gulliver's Travels.

Related Topics:
Rowing boat - Captain Ahab - Moby Dick - Long John Silver - Treasure Island - Gulliver's Travels

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The gang enter the fantasy world, and encounter some mischeivous pixies and a fire-breathing dragon. The books get trapped and its up to Richard to save them, but he gets eaten by the dragon. He makes it back, thanks to Jack and the Beanstalk. The gang finally reach the EXIT where they encounter the Pagemaster, who reveals it was all a test for Richard to face his fears, and the other characters the group encountered congratulate him. Richard returns to the real world with Adventure, Horror and Fantasy, who revert back to normal books. Mr. Dewey finds Richard and allows him to check out all three books. Richard becomes a brave boy and everybody lives happy ever after... except Adventure, who gets kissed by Horror by accident.

Related Topics:
Dragon - Jack and the Beanstalk

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The theme songs to the movie, are "Dream Away", sung by Babyface and Lisa Stansfield; the other being "Whatever You Imagine", sung by Wendy Moten.

Related Topics:
Babyface - Lisa Stansfield - Wendy Moten

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There are many different references to different novels and rhymes. Even Humpty Dumpty makes a cameo appearance in the film.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There was not much merchandise sold from the film, only soft toys of the main characters.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~