The Pagemaster: An Overlooked Relic of the 90’s Which Encourages Reading

You’ve gotta love the wisps of cloud with that font, which begins the movie proper.

I heard on Twitter once that Millennials choose a mediocre children’s movie to base their entire personality around, and for a lot of them that movie happens to be Space Jam. Maybe it was the soundtrack album with Quad City DJs and R. Kelly on it (which in the latter case taints its legacy) that enraptured a generation, or the combination of live-action with animation, but I’ve seen plenty of people come out of the woodwork to defend Space Jam as a work of corporate pop-art. Some others, especially in the LGBT community, rally around Matilda which starred Mara Wilson and Danny Devito, and there is a convincing case to be made for Matilda as a Roald Dahl adaptation plus the literary credibility it carries along with its source material. Me on the other hand, I gravitated towards a little movie I rented on VHS called The Pagemaster. I even had the Where’s Wally knock-off activity book tie-in as a child, where you had to find certain characters from literary classics in the crowd of various scenes. The Pagemaster starred Macaulay Culkin and Christopher Lloyd, and came out in 1994 which was a prime era for this sort of kids entertainment. It seems to have slipped beneath the cracks post-Disney acquisition of the 20th Century Fox studio catalog, and whilst I imported a Blu-Ray of it years ago it seems like this film’s cult status is questionable given its lack of memes generated and tiny fanbase. The Pagemaster was also fraught with WGA problems as David Kirschner and David Casci duking it out for story credit, which is prominent in the film’s Wikipedia page as one of the most expensive WGA investigations of its kind back in the day, so it’s also notable for that mess. It was produced by Turner Animation which closed down after the failure of Cats Don’t Dance, and The Pagemaster got roasted by critics like Roger Ebert at the time of its release. Does The Pagemaster hold up as an example of Disney Renaissance era competition with its associated 2D animation, or is it just 90’s rubbish? I’d argue it can be both, and whilst its plot leaves a lot to be desired, its visuals are stunning for what it is and captivated my imagination long into adulthood. It’s not as cracked out as Captain Planet was with its overpopulation rhetoric and anti-drug PSAs as far as Turner Pictures association goes, as an advertisement for public libraries and reading you could do a whole lot worse.

The Pagemaster is the sort of children’s film they don’t make anymore, for various reasons, and it’s a shame that it hasn’t been rebooted to take advantage of the boom in YA novels as well as the resurgence of libraries. The opening credits along with its score is enchanting, inviting us into the word of the movie on a pleasant note where pirate ships and haunted houses form out of clouds, Its plot centres around a little boy named Richard Tyler who’s terrified of everything and cites statistics as an excuse not to do anything perilous. His bedroom is filled with safety equipment with warnings like HIGH VOLTAGE next to power points, as well as a NO SMOKING sign above the headboard of his bed. We see Richard startled by a thunderstorm, eavesdropping on his parents arguing about how afraid their son is about everything from mercury levels in tuna to getting hit on the head with a baseball and causing tumours.

Richard Tyler’s frustrated parents having a chat about their anxiety-prone son.

Richard Tyler, played by Macaulay Culkin, lurking with his flashlight outside their room.

The ominous treehouse in a tree Richard refuses to climb, sign-posted by thunderclap.

Richard’s beleaguered father attempts to build him a treehouse, which he won’t dare use, and he conks out his dad with a bucket of nails attached to a rope which he uses in lieu of the stepladder. Rich rattles off more statistics, but his father forces him to fetch a pound of more nails despite his heightened anxiety. My own father has forced me to do small errands like this over the years, and Richard Tyler comes off as a bit of a wuss given the tasks at hand. Of course the highlight of this sequence has to be Macaulay Culkin riding out on his high-vis safety bike ensemble with lights for visibility and a little basket on the back, as he embarks on his hardware store adventure.

Refusing the call to adventure is all part of the Hero’s Journey, or hack screenwriting.

Check out the nerd-mobile this kid is driving, even my dad doesn’t wear that much high-vis when he takes his electric bike off to the shops.

The cooler kids mock Richard Tyler’s get-up as they ride their bikes on the dangerous ramp care-free, I’m not sure they count as nineties movie bullies but they’re close.

Richard Tyler is confronted by an (in his mind) spooky tunnel whilst fleeing his mockery.

Then lightning strikes behind him and suddenly the tunnel route doesn’t seem so bad.

Y’know what, I don’t think Culkin’s gonna make it to the hardware store today.

The lightning effects make the library look like a spooky place to be, kinda off-message.

Lightning strikes a power line and the lights illuminate into sparks inside the tunnel, Culkin crashes his bike into a fallen tree branch and takes his helmet off to run inside the nearest building to take shelter from the storm. He’s spooked by the lion statue which makes a roaring noise in post-production, he gets inside the library and he’s greeted by Christopher Lloyd’s character wheeling some books down the hallway. This man is named Mr. Dewey, because like Garth Marenghi said, “I know writers who use subtext and they’re all cowards.”. Mr. Dewey proceeds to devour the scenery he’s in, because Christopher Lloyd’s gotta eat, and he’s hungry for ham. His dialogue here as he tries to guess which type of book Richard Tyler is looking for makes him come across as a stranger danger risk, as many critics of this film point out, but I doubt that’s what Christopher Lloyd was going for. I think Christopher Lloyd wanted to portray a librarian who was enthusiastic about his job, with just a hint of mystery as to how his library works and what you can do there. Lloyd does double duty as both Dewey and the titular Pagemaster, an illustrated book themed wizard who rules the library. Dewey is supposed to be a mere mortal, but the way he talks about books and the library blurs the line between fiction and reality - the way libraries work in our imagination. Christopher Lloyd’s bewildering rant introduces us to the three genres the movie will explore, Adventure, Horror and Fantasy, and while it does cross the line into weirdness when Dewey is grabbing at Richard Tyler’s shirt it is effective at setting the stage for what we’re in for later.

This is the first glimpse we get of Christopher Lloyd, heralded by thunder-claps.

That’s a look on a man’s face that says: “I’m going to chew the hell out of this scenery!”

Mr. Dewey, invading Richard Tyler’s personal space to an uncomfortable extent.

“Ah, Horror!” - Christopher Lloyd is putting his all into freaking out this ten-year old boy.

I like how Christopher Lloyd just whips out a library card like a magician’s trick.

“Is there a phone where I can call my parents?” asks Rich. “Through THERE!” answers Dewey.

Say what you will about the quality of The Pagemaster as a film, it has wonderful shots of this old library set, it makes me want to renew my library card and borrow some books.

Mr. Dewey tells Richard that if he gets lost, all he has to do is go towards the EXIT sign.

I love this shot where Richard Tyler walks into this part of the library and finds the rotunda.

He looks up at the ceiling, and finds this beautiful painting foreshadowing future events.

We cut back to Richard Tyler examining the rotunda’s beautiful artwork.

As Richard Tyler looks up, we get a closer look at the fire breathing dragon.

Then a closer look at the pirates, who are showing off their pistols.

Now we get a shot of Captain Ahab poking his harpoon at Moby Dick.

Next, we get Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, representing the Horror section of the library.

Last of all, we get a close-up of the yet un-named Pagemaster, who resembles Christopher Lloyd. No prizes for guessing there must be a connection between the two.

Richard Tyler slips on his dripping wet shoes and knocks himself out, as we start leaving the live-action framing device and enter the dream sequence which is conveyed through animation. The animated segments of this movie are probably the most famous if you ask people who have seen this movie, and for me this aspect of the film was the main draw as a kid. Culkin runs away from paint dripping from the ceiling, and a subtle detail is that bookshelves splattered by the paint turn animated, which is a nice touch from the director. If you know anything about the production of this film, you’ll know former Disney animators worked on The Pagemaster and gave it a unique look compared to other 90’s children’s films at the time like Once Upon A Forest for example. The Pagemaster certainly utilises early CGI with live action to give it an imaginative flair, especially in this magic paint chase sequence which blew my mind when I first saw it because I hadn’t yet seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit or even Cool World (pity me, because I saw Cool World first and didn’t see Roger Rabbit until eons later). The animation isn’t as sophisticated as Disney films at the time, but it fits right in with FernGully: The Last Rainforest which 20th Century Fox also released.

I like this dragon hiding in the paint, foreshadowing the later encounter with the beast.

As you can see, shelves hit by the paint turn animated in this sequence, a nice touch.

Richard Tyler cowers from the paint in the middle of a compass, indicating his journey.

Richard Tyler examines his cartoon self, looking at his fingers.

Our first glimpse of the titular Pagemaster, who explains that Richard Tyler is an illustration.

“I am the Pagemaster, keeper of the books, guardian of the written word!”

“Fiction! A-Z, where all is possible! Where a boy’s imagination can take root, and grow to incredible heights!”

“Where a boy’s courage is a wind that moves him to discovery!”

The Pagemaster’s titular book themed wizard is a tad underrated as far as pre-Harry Potter wizards go in the Millennial pantheon of childhood fantasy. Before Dumbledore, we had Gandalf and Merlin and that was about it, plus when it comes to the Pagemaster you’ve gotta love a sorcerer with a gimmick. He’s all about books, and he conjures literature into boats and stuff. He tells Richard Tyler that to return home he must pass three tests, Horror, Adventure and Fantasy. Standard stuff for a hero’s journey and a wizard who helps him along. I think the vastness of the library in the animated sequences are impressive, hinting at how reading literature expands your imagination in-universe. The library almost becomes a character in the film unto itself, a magic place of wonders and enchantment with every book opened. When you’re a child, the selection of your local library seems massive and overwhelming, I recall looking up books about ancient Egypt at the Five Dock and Drummoyne libraries growing up. The picture books produced in the 1980s and 1990s were iconic to a certain time’s visual culture, like Possum Magic and The Rainbow Fish, plus Turramulli the Giant Quinkin which terrified many an Australian primary school student with its Indigenous folklore illustrated by the great Dick Roughsey. Primary school libraries were also where the Scholastic book fair set up, which exposed me to the brilliant My Girragundji about an Aboriginal boy who befriended a frog. These Scholastic book fairs at the school library also introduced me to the works of Paul Jennings and Morris Gleitzman, the former was responsible for the source material that became the classic TV series Round The Twist and the latter collaborated on projects like Wicked! and Deadly!. It was an era when young adult literature was yet to blossom into the publishing juggernaut it is today, and classrooms had bookshelves full of Goosebumps and Myth Men books (I didn’t read the Animorphs books but their cultural impact was massive, I watched the TV show based on them after school). Critics of The Pagemaster often complain that the movie only showcases public domain literature, but in a way this aspect of the movie has aged better than overt pop culture quipping children’s movies of yesteryear like Shrek. Because of the circumstances around the movie’s production pre-dating the internet, The Pagemaster is a time capsule of what libraries were like right before the turn of the millennium, cosy comfort food for bookworms like me who rented it on VHS from Civic Video. Nowadays, we have nerd-core rappers like Mega Ran teaming up with MC Lars to create library themed hip-hop albums such as The Dewey Decibel System to encourage young people to read, but back in the day we had to rely on Ted Turner cartoons to educate us. Captain Planet and the Planeteers may be Ted Turner’s magnum opus, but The Pagemaster could be a viable property to reboot for today’s audiences.

The Pagemaster sends Culkin on a library cart ride through the bookshelves.

The Pagemaster fades away into the aether once he’s nudged Richard Tyler on his quest.

Check out the vast hallways Culkin is careening down.

A flurry of loose paper flitters into the air as Culkin whooshes past.

Subtle use of CGI blended with 2D animation is neat here as the perspective shifts.

The background detail as Culkin rushes by adds to the sense of scale about the magic library.

He crashes into the telephone he was trying to call his parents on, informed by a prompt message that the phone lines are cut due to the storm.

The first themed book emerges from the pile, Adventure, angry with Richard Tyler.

Richard Tyler has had a nasty crash, now this pirate captain book is mad at him as well.

Richard Tyler shows Adventure his library card, to prove he’s not a book.

The three books of the film, Adventure, Horror and Fantasy, serve as companions to Richard Tyler on his journey, sentient tomes which represent their genres. Patrick Stewart voices the pirate captain Adventure, Whoopi Goldberg voices the purple feminine Fantasy, and Frank Welker voices the hunchbacked Horror. Each have different purposes, each can get a little annoying with their book puns, and the movie spends more time with them than with the titular Pagemaster. Adventure changes his tune regarding Richard Tyler when he finds out he’s a customer rather than a book, although Richard whines about how he needs to get home and how his parents will be worried sick about him. Adventure opens Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea onto the floor and the pair of heroes are attacked by a giant squid up the ladder. This library seems to have books available by plot convenience, as Richard Tyler is saved from dropping to his doom by Fantasy’s wings, located in the generic shelves which seem to have everything stacked next to each other. We’re also introduced to Fantasy in this scene, who also yells at Richard Tyler for grabbing her the way he did. Fantasy gets into an argument with Adventure, due to both of them wanting to be checked out of the library, but Richard just wants to go home. After being pursued by the jaws of the Baskerville hound, the gang find themselves exploring the Horror section.

This is one of the more memorable set-pieces from the film I can recall.

Richard Tyler has to jump for his life, and grabs hold of Fantasy by the spine.

Culkin is told off by Whoopi Goldberg’s wrath, notice she’s wearing glass fairy tale slippers.

Adventure finds a copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Richard Tyler is attacked once again by literacy, as the Hound of the Baskervilles barks.

Richard Tyler, Adventure and Fantasy are chased down the corridor by the Hound.

The gang escape being chewed up by a devil dog, exhausted by their pursuit.

Point me to the sky above, I can’t get there on my own, walk me to the graveyard, dig up her bones…

This library must be massive if it has expansive cemeteries in the Horror section.

I wasn’t exactly a fan of Horror as a little kid, Horrible Histories was as spooky as I was willing to go, however due to a variety of circumstances I learned I couldn’t avoid horror forever. The Pagemaster is kind of notorious for scaring children with its Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sequence, a tale I read in a picture book version at the Tyalla school library and in Robert Lewis Stevenson’s original text through Penguin Classics as a teenager. There were a lot of picture book versions of horrific tales floating around libraries in the nineties, I remember a specific series dedicated to Dracula, Frankenstein, The Werewolf and The Mummy which had frightening covers which intrigued me enough to read them. They were really well-illustrated too, and condensed the high-brow narrative of Frankenstein to a grade level where I could understand the meat of the story at a young age. In The Pagemaster however, I doubt any child would be allowed to browse these shelves unattended by an adult, as it would be the most dangerous section of shelving to encounter. In a world where I wasn’t allowed to take out Jurassic Park out of the Older Readers section of my high school library without permission from an authority figure, Richard Tyler being allowed to explore the realm where Stephen King and Clive Barker reign supreme seems a bit far-fetched. The Pagemaster does capture the mood of a scaredy-cat confronted head on with this genre, however, and there’ll always be wusses that sneak a peek at horror fiction out of curiosity. Richard Tyler rings the bell of the haunted house, and down plummets Horror, the third sentient book of the team. Culkin must now make a literal friend of Horror, like Col. Kurtz said, as he guides the group through the haunted house of Mr. Hyde. This whole sequence with Hyde is compelling, even though it doesn’t do a very good job explaining the nature of Jekyll and Hyde to a presumed child audience. It is well animated in parts, especially the bit with the fallen chandelier.

Richard Tyler tries to make a break for the EXIT sign, but we all know it’s not time yet.

Of course the EXIT sign is above a giant haunted house, where evil lurks.

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Must be a duplex…” quips Fantasy, examining the entrance.

Culkin catches Horror in his hands, a bit freaked out by the sight of him.

Horror in all his misshapen glory, apologising to Richard Tyler for scaring him.

Dr. Jekyll is played by Leonard Nimoy, who confronts the group with a lantern.

Richard Tyler and company explore the laboratory with test tubes and stuff.

Dr. Jekyll offers them a drink, which appears sinister and creepy.

Horror shoves Adventure, and the spilled cocktail burns a hole through the floor.

Dr. Jekyll drinks his infamous potion in front of Richard Tyler who begs him not to.

Dr. Jekyll throws his glass into the fireplace, producing green flame.

The team of books and the boy watches astonished in terror.

The terrible visage of Mr. Hyde, which isn’t really that scary as an adult.

Horror pleads “SANCTUARY” as his fallen chandelier is dragged down into the pit.

I reckon Hyde looks way creepier here in shadowed candlelight.

The urgency of Horror increases, repeating “SANCTUARY!” in desperation.

Fantasy rescues Horror from certain death with her wand’s blowtorch.

It’s neat that a book called Ghost Stories is incorporeal, but my eyes spy far more adult horror fiction on the walls like The Exorcist and The Haunting on the walls.

And so begins the assault by ghost stories, do they have Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark?

If the goal of this film is to encourage children to read, why spook them with books?

Richard Tyler just can’t catch a break, climbing down from the haunted house.

The next challenge is the Land of Adventure, which is full of pirate stories and swashbuckling. The Pagemaster may not have the most cohesive narrative in the world, but it has decent traditional animated sequences which are a marvel to look at. Adventure is a far brighter, colourful realm distinct from the muted gloomy tones of Horror, and the staircases are made to resemble books. This sequence is most famous for the Captain Ahab scene and the Treasure Island pirates, and again it doesn’t do a very good job establishing the nature of these characters so you’d want to read about them. Ahab’s ship gets totalled by the White Whale before you get to know him that well, whereas in the book he rambles about getting vengeance against that sea creature quite a lot. Whilst Horror had quite a few spooky scenes and built up atmosphere going for it in this movie, Adventure seems like it comes and goes, although it has its few quiet moments like Richard Tyler telling Adventure that he and the other books are the only friends he’s ever had. This part of the movie has a lot of character development and boosts Richard from a whiny protagonist to somebody who can put up a fight when he needs to, instead of crumbling at the first sign of conflict. I’ll summarise the plot the best I can with visual aids, to show off the pretty animation:

A beautiful sunset to transition from Horror to Adventure.

You can see a book staircase as part of the scenery here.

Adventure gets soaked in sea-spray, and Horror laughs at his expense.

Add this to One Less Than Perfect Shot on Twitter, the innuendo speaks for itself.

The crew of books and their boy sail out into the choppy waters, greeted by Ahab.

Captain Ahab is bathed in red light, like it’s a Rob Zombie video all of a sudden.

Moby Dick, the White Whale, chomps on the main characters’ boat and leaves them stranded.

Richard Tyler and Adventure are rescued from sharks by the Treasure Island pirates.

The pirates laugh it up in Richard Tyler and Adventure’s faces.

The massive pirate ship emerges out of the distance towards the small dingy.

And the ship flies the Jolly Roger, as the orchestra declares its menace.

Long John Silver captures Richard Tyler and Adventure, taking a good look at him.

Adventure and Richard Tyler are searched for hidden treasure, and Long John Silver throws away Culkin’s library card which Adventure needs to get checked out.

Of course the skull-ish Treasure Island is made out of stone books.

The pirates land and they start their trek towards the digging site.

The pirates are spooked by a skeleton in the sand, but Long John Silver isn’t having it.

The pirates stage a mutiny against Long John Silver because the treasure chest is empty.

After a scene of slapstick where Horror and Fantasy are reunited with Richard Tyler, Culkin faces off against Long John Silver with a nearby sword.

Richard Tyler succeeds at intimidating Long John Silver, who sings Dead Man’s Chest as he rows away, leaving Culkin and the books to plan their next stop on their journey.

There’s a scene where Adventure is mean to Horror, whose attempts at imitating him annoys him, and Horror sulks off on the beach alone and it’s rather sad.

TRULY ADVENTURE IS THE REAL MONSTER, WE STAN HORROR ON THIS WEBSITE.

Although Culkin is moping about how he’ll never get home because he lost his library card, Fantasy telling him sometimes you have to fight to make a wish come true is a good message.

After being a dick to Horror, Adventure finds Richard Tyler’s lost library card on his peg-leg.

At least Fantasy calls out Adventure for being mean-spirited to Horror, who he has insulted.

Horror has been captured by the Lilliputians from Gulliver’s Travels, as Adventure discovers.

I like how Adventure is drawn with regret in his eyes as he frees Horror from bondage.

Fantasy’s wand begins to blink, which means it’s time to head to the Fantasy section.

Alright, I should talk about the Fantasy segment of this movie. This film was made in 1994, and as a result you don’t get any big-name franchises like The Lord of the Rings appearing to entice kids to read about Gandalf. What we get is Fantasy in the Fantasy Glades sense, to borrow an analogy from obscure Australian theme park lore. Fantasy Glades was constructed with the influence of the Brothers Grimm rather than Tolkien in mind, and The Pagemaster shares similarities with that since what we’re greeted with is all public domain IPs like Mother Goose and Humpty Dumpty. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with eschewing more recognisable franchises in favour of doing its own thing with public domain books, however this is why I think The Pagemaster is ripe for a reboot which could be like Ready Player One for literature only substantial. I should also mention that Fantasy is also the segment of the movie where Whatever You Imagine appears as the big pop song on the soundtrack, and this portion of the film acts as a sort of animated music video for the song. It’s not a bad song, but it’s very of its time and quite cheesy. This is a segment which suggests Fantasy in its archetypical form rather than indicative of specific properties (with very few public domain exceptions like Arabian Nights and Alice In Wonderland), there’s no A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin or C.S. Lewis’ Narnia to be found but there is a dragon here otherwise the audience would riot. You gotta have a dragon in your Fantasy section, even if it’s not borrowed from The Dragonriders of Pern. There are rules about this. If they made this movie today there’d be Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman books referenced as long as their estates play ball, back in 1994 the capital F Fantasy genre was not as recognisable (or marketable) as it is now and thus we get these generic fantasy element in our sandbox filled with “whatever you imagine”. The Pagemaster as a film often struggles to express the meat of the classic literary tales being referenced so you’ll want to read them yourself, and Fantasy is perhaps the guiltiest sequence of all of these because it doesn’t tell you which storybooks have dragons and stuff like that in them, it just implies dragons can be found in the fiction section of your local library. I like The Pagemaster, I really do, but you’ve gotta admit when your appeal to the youth to read books is being outdone by the Danny Devito directed adaptation of Matilda - maybe your script needs a few rewrites.

We zoom through this spiderweb on our way to the world of Fantasy, enchantment awaits!

There’s a faun playing a pan pipe on a rock near some dandelions.

Mother Goose flies overhead as Richard Tyler and the books duck for cover.

Twinkling fairies up ahead of Richard Tyler, illuminating the sky, Fantasy calls them “my little babies”, which is interesting to say the least because it implies books can adopt kids.

One of the fairies prances about on Richard Tyler’s hand, its skeleton is electric I guess?

Two of the fairies steal Richard Tyler’s glasses, also, here’s Humpty Dumpty.

The Yellow Brick Road is a possible Oz reference, the boy and his books head to the cave.

Adventure enters the cave with trepidation, and Fantasy teases him about it.

Richard Tyler finds the EXIT sign at the top of this mountain, which looks ominous.

Adventure whacks his sword on the ceiling of the cave, waking the dragon up.

The dragon belches fire as Adventure flees the scene, this needs Ronnie James Dio music.

Richard Tyler clings to the nose-horn of the dragon, screaming his lungs out.

Fantasy tears out one of her pages labelled Arabian Nights and summons a magic carpet, which is one of the rare instances in this movie that non-Western fantasy is referenced.

Richard Tyler makes a narrow escape on the carpet from being Kentucky Fried Culkin.

Richard Tyler makes a quick dodge of the dragon’s fire as the beast chases them down.

Richard Tyler and his company of books fly away towards the EXIT on the magic carpet.

Fantasy’s wand is knocked to the ground by Horror’s fumbling, which means trouble.

The dragon scorches the magic carpet, which sends them hurtling towards the tower.

The EXIT sign is so close, yet so far away, and the gang is downed by the dragon.

As Culkin climbs out, let me remind you The Pagemaster has an Atlas Shrugged joke.

“C’mon guys! The EXIT!” yells Richard Tyler, rushing towards the finish.

The library book crew is tired out by their ordeal, unenthusiastic about further struggle.

Then the dragon breathes fire again and the library books have to retreat into a cave.

Culkin climbs to the top, only to find he’s left his book friend behind enemy lines.

Whilst hiding in a cranny from dragon danger, Adventure makes out with Fantasy.

“How would you like to curl up with a good book?” says Adventure before he’s booted out.

Adventure plans to fight the dragon himself so Richard Tyler can get away.

Adventure’s bravado is rewarded by being scorched by the dragon, and he falls over.

Richard Tyler steals the sword, shield and helmet off the fallen knight who crumbles to dust.

Culkin faces off against the dragon, sword and shield in hand, but alas this doesn’t last.

The dragon curls its tail around Culkin, removing his armour and eating him.

Culkin is now in the belly of the beast, and it seems there is no hope left for him.

The dragon also swallowed Fantasy’s wand, in case I didn’t make that clearer earlier.

The Pagemaster’s disembodied voice advises Culkin to look to the books, but he opens Alice In Wonderland and the Queen of Hearts yells “OFF WITH HIS HEAD!” at him.

He opens Jack and the Beanstalk and makes a break through it on the growing plant.

Culkin saves the books from the dragon and gives Fantasy her wand back.

Of course there’s a magic door that says Look To The Books on it, why wouldn’t there be?

They get to a weird portal as the orchestral theme swells, signalling the conclusion.

The Pagemaster rears his head again, after several scenes where his disembodied voice appears like Obi-Wan telling Luke Skywalker to turn off his targeting computer.

I like how the books are all reverent of the Pagemaster but Culkin is ready to cuss him out.

The Pagemaster is all whimsical like “TELL ME!”, unaware that Culkin is gonna have strong words after his opener of “Do you have any idea what I’ve been through?”

“I was nearly torn apart by a crazy doctor, then I was made a slave by some mangy pirates, and eaten, GOT THAT… EATEN, by a fire-breathing dragon! Not to mention being tossed, squashed, and scared practically to death!”

“And yet you stand before me.” says the Pagemaster. “Think, boy, what kind of adventure would you have had if I had brought you here with the turn of a page?”

I really like this mythic shot of the portal even if it’s accompanying the Pagemaster’s BS. There are accompanying visions of each of the villains Richard Tyler has faced on his quest.

Richard Tyler looks down at the non-animated Culkin, waiting to return home.

The Pagemaster sends Culkin and the books through the weird portal back to the library.

Culkin collides with his cartoon soul, and each of the three books plop on the ground with him.

The Pagemaster lives and dies on its animated sequences, so a return to the live-action world is a bit like Dorothy saying there’s no place like home, when her home is a miserable black and white farm. Nonetheless, Richard Tyler has his reasons for returning to his parents, namely that his peril with fire-breathing dragons and enslaving pirates is over. So begins the ending of this movie, where Richard Tyler has to apply the lessons he learned to the real world and starts reading something that isn’t a medical journal of statistics. I’ll get down to business explaining what happens in this film’s climax, but I would like to mention this movie’s end credits end with a cheesy nineties song called Dream Away which is on the soundtrack. I don’t really have much to say about this song other than I miss films ending with cheesy nineties ballads or adult contemporary covers of the hit single from the movie it’s promoting. I’ll also bring up that David Kirschner was also involved in producing the Halloween cult classic Hocus Pocus, so you can thank him for that childhood nostalgia as well. Whatever You Imagine comes back to serenade the end credits rolling, which I kinda prefer to Dream Away when I’m listening to the soundtrack CD.

The rotunda returns to its non-goopy form, with the Pagemaster staring down at Culkin.

Richard Tyler’s library card floats down to the ground, like a Hogwarts Acceptance letter.

This shot where Christopher Lloyd’s face is merged with the Pagemaster’s is something films like this never get credit for, setting up the implication that they’re one and the same.

Richard sees the EXIT sign and runs for it, but Mr. Dewey warns him “Careful, you’ll slip again!”

Culkin shows Mr. Dewey his library card, mentioning how he forgot his books, and Mr. Dewey says “You can only check out two.”

Culkin pleads with Mr. Dewey “Just this once…” and Mr Dewey allows it.

I admire the craftsmanship that went into the book props as Culkin takes them away.

Man, Christopher Lloyd is selling that whimsical children’s movie grin, you can’t hate it.

Now Richard Tyler rides home unburdened by cumbersome safety equipment which probably caused his bike crash rather than prevent it. Nice character beat here!

His character arc is completed by a sweet bike jump because it’s the nineties!

He rides away saying “Good, that was definitely good.” when he’s been saying “Not good.” half of the film, and the streetlights make a magic pixie dust sound when they turn on.

Richard Tyler’s parents worry about where he is and contemplate calling the police, but his bike signifies that he’s home.

Richard’s mother spots that there’s a light on in the treehouse.

Richard is sleeping in the treehouse tonight, and his parents tuck him in before leaving.

Fantasy switches the lantern back on with magic after Richard’s parents turn it off.

The silhouettes of Richard’s three book friends can be seen on the treehouse wall.

To wrap it up, The Pagemaster is both better and worse than I remember, a relic of a magical time when Ted Turner tried to educate us with cartoons like Captain Planet, and of the Disney Renaissance keeping 2D animation relevant in Hollywood long enough that their competitors also wanted a slice of the action. It seems to be well liked if not well remembered, and it persists in the lizard almond part of countless Millennial brains who rented this box office flop on VHS. Home video really gave this movie a new lease on life, I never saw it in the cinema and if Disney’s policy regarding screenings of the 20th Century Fox back catalogue continues I doubt I ever will. I got lucky catching a screening of Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards in 35MM at GoMa up in Queensland when they were screening a bunch of nuclear apocalypse films for a special exhibition, I doubt The Pagemaster will ever warrant curation of it by an art museum no matter how much nostalgia it holds in my heart. You could show far worse films to your children than this, even if it left very little pop culture impact, I’ll always treasure its ability to whisk me away to the early to mid nineties with one touch of a play button. Some argue this film scared people from entering libraries as a kid, which is hard to argue with what with each book containing monsters attacking. I liked it, Disney would do well with a TV series called The Pagemaster: Re-illustrated or something to keep this overlooked property alive with updated book references that include young adult franchises like Percy Jackson and Artemis Fowl or Warrior Cats. I’d tune in every week for new episodes., because I’m a pathetic bookworm who needs to be validated by visual media instead of it telling me that reading is for chumps. We at Jade Crypt of Wonders salute The Pagemaster and its nebulous goal of getting children to read by showing them frightening imagery at an impressionable age.