I keep in mind catching the start of 1994’s The Pagemaster on TV someday on a Saturday within the summertime once I was a child. I by no means had an opportunity to take a seat by means of your complete film. However a few week in the past, I lastly had an opportunity to observe the animated film in its entirety, and I’d prefer to share a number of ideas on why it was so dangerous.

Stream The Pagemaster on Prime Video Now

There was so much to like about 1994’s The Pagemaster, no less than in idea. The animated film regarded nice on paper — a star-studded forged which included Christopher Lloyd, Patrick Stewart, Leonard Nimoy, Whoopi Goldberg, and Macaulay Culkin, in addition to an excellent story thought during which a boy is reworked right into a world of animated books, and completely different settings widespread in fantasy books. However, The Pagemaster film turned out to be one of many worst animated films of all time.

Why didn’t Macaulay Culkin’s animated film work? For starters, we had seen Culkin play the lovable little boy an excessive amount of on the large display earlier than The Pagemaster (and would additionally see him a month later in Richie Wealthy taking part in an identical function, which is a dialog for an additional day). In Uncle Buck, Macaulay performed the function of Miles, Buck’s cute but clever little nephew. In Residence Alone, Culkin performed the lovable little boy caught at dwelling by himself. In My Lady, he performed a cute little boy who was allergic to the whole lot. In Getting Even With Dad, he performed the lovable son of a burglar (though, nobody noticed it). So when The Pagemaster got here out, we have been all bored with Culkin taking part in the identical function (which was even more durable to imagine since he was 14 years outdated when the film hit theaters).

READ NEXT: New Animated Motion pictures of 2020

However that wasn’t The Pagemaster‘s solely flaw. The animation regarded dated and unusual, and Culkin as a cartoon character regarded nothing like Culkin the little boy on display; Macaulay as a cartoon character merely regarded bizarre. There was additionally the truth that The Pagemaster was fairly grim for a child’s film, in that even within the temporary 80-minute run time of the film we felt like Richard would by no means discover his approach out of the animated world. Let’s not neglect the film additionally had some language which may have been thought of scary for teenagers, on the time no less than, like when Journey threatened to point out Richard the “shade of his insides.” Certain, that language could seem gentle these days, however again in 1994, that sort of discuss in youngsters films was frowned upon. Nevertheless it’s no shock that The Pagemaster leaned a little bit in the direction of inappropriate for youngsters, on condition that one of many writers, David Casci, had solely written R-Rated horror beforehand. Yeah, nice thought twentieth Century Fox — convey aboard a horror author on your upcoming animated film.

Probably its greatest drawback was that The Pagemaster felt like an epic quest that merely wasn’t epic. Certain, they slay a dragon in the direction of the tip of the film, however apart from that, the film was fairly uneventful and lulled together with banter between the poorly written characters. Whoopi’s character wasn’t even barely humorous, though she was written because the snarky and sassy character of the bunch. Horror, voiced by Frank Welker, was each dumb film character you’ve ever seen in any film with a dumb film character. Though the fantastic Christopher Lloyd did a properly sufficient job voicing The Pagemaster/librarian, he didn’t have a ton of display time within the film.

The Pagemaster was an excellent idea, although: a boy runs into an enormous library for shelter from a nasty storm, slips and hits his head, after which desires he’s in an animated world. And, as much as that time within the film, The Pagemaster was getting on properly sufficient. However as soon as the animation hit, the film went downhill shortly. I’d really prefer to see a Pagemaster reboot film sooner or later within the subsequent few years, with higher writing and animation (though, admittedly, the idea of books to many youngsters these days won’t be as fascinating because it as soon as was).

The Pagemaster (alongside Richie Wealthy) have been the ultimate two nails within the coffin for Macaulay Culkin’s performing profession. If it weren’t for Residence Alone and My Lady, we in all probability may’ve finished with out Culkin altogether. And though Culkin isn’t fully guilty for the failure of The Pagemaster, the film will go down in Hollywood historical past as one of many all-time worst animated films that didn’t fairly reside as much as its potential.

The Pagemaster FAQs

The place to Stream The Pagemaster

Sadly, if you wish to stream The Pagemaster on-line proper now, you’ll should pay additional, as you received’t discover the film included on any of the stream companies’ memberships. Which means it’s not on Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, HBO Max, or any of the opposite streaming companies you may have already got.

Nonetheless, you may watch The Pagemaster on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Vudu, or Google Play films for $3.99.

Stream The Pagemaster on Prime Video Now

Why Isn’t The Pagemaster on Disney Plus?

Whereas The Pagemaster is a twentieth Century Studios movie (which is now owned by Disney), there was already a deal between HBO and twentieth Century Studios (which at present provides the rights to HBO). This deal is ready to run out on the finish of 2022, so it’s fairly seemingly that we’ll see The Pagemaster on Disney Plus in 2023.

When Did The Pagemaster Come Out?

The Pagemaster was launched on November 23, 1994, going up towards films like Leon: The Skilled (which we even have in our listing of probably the most underrated motion films of all-time), Junior (you already know, the one with Arnold and Danny Devito), Star Trek: Generations, and The Paperboy.

What Is Pagemaster Rated?

The Pagemaster is rated G.

What Library Was The Pagemaster Filmed in?

Imagine it or not, The Pagemaster wasn’t really filmed in an precise library. A number of the library you see within the movie was really constructed on set, whereas the outside and a few of the inside photographs have been really filmed at the Pure Historical past Museum of Los Angeles.