The Pagemaster

The Pagemaster is a 1994 American live-action/animated fantasy adventure film starring Macaulay Culkin, Christopher Lloyd, Whoopi Goldberg, Patrick Stewart, Leonard Nimoy, Frank Welker, Ed Begley Jr., and Mel Harris. The film was produced by Turner Pictures and Hanna-Barbera and released by 20th Century Fox on November 23, 1994. Culkin stars as a timid boy who uses statistics as an excuse to avoid anything he finds uncomfortable in life. But after reluctantly undertaking an errand for his father, he gets caught in a storm, which forces him to seek refuge in a library. He then finds himself trapped inside the library, where he must battle his way through literary classics come to life if he is to find his way home. The film was written for the screen by David Casci, based on a six-page pitch by writer Charles Pogue entitled "Library Days", presented to Casci by producer David Kirschner. The film was directed by Joe Johnston (live-action) and Pixote Hunt and Glenn Chaika (animation), and produced by David Kirschner and Paul Gertz. The film received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $13.7 million from a budget of $34 million. The film's poor box office performance, along with the 1997 film Cats Don't Dance (which was in production at the time The Pagemaster was released), set back other animated films for the animation studio, Turner Feature Animation. Plot Pessimistic 10-year-old Richard Tyler lives life based on statistics and fears everything. His exasperated parents have tried multiple ways to build up his courage to little success. Richard is sent to buy a bag of nails for building a treehouse. However, Richard gets caught in a harsh thunderstorm and takes shelter in a library. He meets Mr. Dewey, an eccentric librarian/custodian who insists that he is in need of a special book and gives him a library card, despite Richard's protests. Searching for a phone, Richard finds a large rotunda painted with many famous literary characters. He slips on water dripping from his coat and falls over, knocking himself out. Richard awakens to find the rotunda art melting, which washes over him and the library, turning them into illustrations. He is met by the Pagemaster, the mythical Keeper of Books and Guardian of the Written Word. Richard asks for directions to the exit, so the Pagemaster sends him through the fiction section toward the green neon exit sign.