The Pagemaster (1994)
Average Rating: 4.5/10
Reviews Counted: 17
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 14
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 4.7/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 5
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 2.8/5
User Ratings: 50,015
My Rating
Movie Info
A young boy overcomes his obsessive fears by discovering a love for books in this animated fantasy adventure. In a live action wraparound, Macaulay Culkin stars as Richard Tyler, an easily bullied, nervous wreck of a kid who's an expert on safety statistics. His mother and father (Mel Harris and Ed Begley, Jr.) don't know how to inspire their son to embrace life boldly. Barely able to leave the house, Richard ventures out one day, but he gets lost in a storm and ends up at a mysterious library.
Nov 23, 1994 Wide
May 28, 2002
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Cast
-
Macaulay Culkin
Richard Tyler -
Christopher Lloyd
Mr. Dewey, The Pagemast... -
Ed Begley Jr
Alan Tyler -
Mel Harris
Claire Tyler -
Patrick Stewart
Pirate Book "Adventure" -
Whoopi Goldberg
Fairy Grandmother "Fant... -
Frank Welker
Dragon -
Leonard Nimoy
"Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde" -
-
Ed Gilbert
George Merry -
Dorian Harewood
Jamaican Pirates -
George Hearn
Captain Ahab -
Alexis Kirschner
Neighborhood kid -
Jessica Kirschner
Neighborhood kid -
Brandon McKay
Neighborhood kid -
Robert Picardo
Pirate -
B.J. Ward
Queen of Hearts -
Phil Hartman
Tom Morgan -
Jim Cummings
Long John Silver -
ADVERTISEMENT
All Critics (17) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (3) | Rotten (14) | DVD (3)
Built on a wispy premise better suited to the realm of TV, The Pagemaster plays like a slickly produced afternoon special.
Top CriticMediocre, really, this mixture of real actors and animation.
A pallid film framed at the start and finish by live action and mostly composed of cheap-looking animation.
A splendidly original children's fantasy about the world of books.
This clever, often engaging, and always fast-paced motion picture uses the visual medium to encourage its viewers to reach out with their imagination.
A sad and dreary film.
Weak Macaulay Culkin fantasy with some cartoon violence.
Weak Macaulay Culkin fantasy with some cartoon violence.
The film rests on its initial ingenuity and fails to develop the concept in interesting or surprising ways.
If you're looking for a movie that may inspire your children to read, ignore this one and lay your money down for The Princess Bride or The NeverEnding Story.
a nice starting point for an important conversation with your child about why so many cartoons think children are stupid.
In this age of technology, a not-so-subtle plug for a classic method of mental stimulation comes as a pleasant surprise.
The Pagemaster's problems can be easily traced back to the screenplay, which simply lacks anything remotely resembling wit.
Audience Reviews for The Pagemaster
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for The Pagemaster yet.
Latest News on The Pagemaster
November 21, 2011:
Viola Davis Helps Save Rhode Island LibraryThe R.I. native joins Alec Baldwin and state Senator Elizabeth Crowley in re-opening the shuttered...
December 5, 2007:
Total Recall: The Golden Compass and Kids in FantasylandAfter a series of delays and personnel changes, the first part of Phillip Pullman's His Dark...
What's Hot On RT
The Last Stand, Side Effects
Trailer for James Franco adaptation
Rachel McAdams' time travel romantic drama
Blockbusters ranked!
Featured on RT
- Ranking the Blockbusters with Summer Movie Scorecard 2013 0
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: The Last Stand and Side Effects 7
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Star Trek Softer Than Expected at #1 80
- Weekly Ketchup: Will Smith to Star in Wild Bunch Remake? 37
- Critics Consensus: Star Trek Into Darkness is Certified Fresh 106
- Red Carpet Roundup: Star Trek Into Darkness Edition 0
- Video Interviews with Katie Aselton & Lake Bell of Black Rock 2
Top Headlines
-
Alex Gibney Talks We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks
0
-
RED Screenwriters Returning for RED 3
0
-
Brave's Brenda Chapman Talks Merida Makeover Controversy
0
-
Gold Discovers Spike Lee
1
-
Morgan Freemand and Diane Keaton Team Up for Life Itself
0
-
The Ten O'Clock People Are Counting on Chris Evans
0
-
Marton Csokas in Talks for The Equalizer
0
Fresh Links
Featured
Star Trek Movies Ranked
HitFix offers their own take on the worst-to-best of the Enterprise crew's cinematic adventures.
Top 10 Star Trek Villains
Rolling Stone unveils the Enterprise's most irksome adversaries.
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback
We'll bet you never realized how many stars were cheerleaders and high school athletes!
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Weirdest Movie Siblings
From Twins to The Royal Tenenbaums, Moviefone explores cinema's oddest siblings.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Not a great or horrible movie! The beginning of this movie is excellent with tremendous sound and some nice humor, but once the film changes into animation it quickly loses its appeal. However, although this film is mostly disappointing, not all is lost. The story, for all its flaws, wastes no time in getting started, and there is a certain nostalgia surrounding the film for the endless stream of, mostly mediocre, but still harmless, cartoons of the 90s, when computer-generated animation was yet to be exploited. Overall, just not memorable enough or able to compete with the great animated films of the last dozen years.
This is the story of a young boy named Richard Tyler, who finds shelter from a storm inside a nearby library. Tyler slips and is knocked unconscious while exploring a rotunda in the library. Upon awakening he is led on a journey through conflicts and events that resemble fictional stories, keeping him from finding the exit from the library.