The Pagemaster

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Creepy Cemetery: The "Horror" section of the library is a giant graveyard with books shaped like tombstones. Casci's original screenplay included a story arc for the protagonist, Richard Tyler (played by Macaulay Culkin), who begins the tale as a boy who hates reading, but by the end of the film, learns to love reading. The revised screenplay by Contreras and Kirschner omitted the reading-themed story arc, instead emphasizing the boy's journey from cowardice to courage.

Contrary to any claims, the screenplay and film are not based on any book. David Casci's screenplay preceded all novelizations and illustrated books by several years.Ed Begley Jr. and Mel Harris as Alan and Claire Tyler: Richard's supportive parents. Alan considers himself a bad father due to his continuous failed attempts to help Richard get over his fears.

Evil Laugh: Mr Hyde, the deranged psycho version of Dr. Jekyll. He laughs maniacally even when he falls to his doom. Fantasy and Long John Silver are voiced by Goldberg and Cummings. The two of them (along with Cheech Marin) voiced the three troublesome hyenas in The Lion King, another animated film released the same year. Or Was It a Dream?: Richard wakes up from his adventure in Fictionland. However, at the end the shadows and voices of Adventure, Horror, and Fantasy can be seen and heard in the real world. The animation, directed by Maurice Hunt, is dingy and dreary. Many of the scenes seem to be glimpsed through a yellowing, dusty pane, at twilight. There's not much color and sharpness. The artistic approach makes the drawings seem unfocused. And the content (one hair-raising close call after another) is more of a rollercoaster ride than a story.Visual Pun: Richard and the gang encounter some ghost stories, i.e., books that are actually intangible and/or haunted. B.J. Ward as the Queen of Hearts, the tyrannical ruler of Wonderland who appears in the Alice in Wonderland book in the dragon's stomach.

Tightly wound and compelling ... appropriate for an older middle school and high school audience. VERDICT: Highly recommended.” – School Library JournalTodd Strasser is an American author of more than 130 novels for adults, young-adults, and middle graders. Loony Librarian: Mr. Dewey, the "loony" part of his character provided by Large Ham Christopher Lloyd. A number of books based on the film exist, including an illustrated book attributed to David Kirschner and Ernie Contreras, illustrated by Jerry Tiritilli, which contained large passages from the Casci screenplay without giving Casci writing credit. The film was well into production by the time this book was introduced in the 1993 F. A. O. Schwarz Christmas Catalog. Other properties based on the film include a novelization of the film, children's story books, pop-up books and other film ancillaries such as toys and games.

The Assimilator: The dragon shape-shifts into a monstrous painting abomination that absorbs Richard into the worlds of Horror, Adventure and Fantasy. Changing him into an illustration, just so it can devour him later. Ed Begley Jr. and Mel Harris as Alan and Claire Tyler, Richard's supportive parents. Alan considers himself a bad father due to his continuous failed attempts to help Richard get over his fears. Cave Mouth: Our heroes find a cave, which is full of stalagmites and stalactites. When Adventure accidentally breaks one, it's revealed that the "cave" is actually the mouth of a dragon. Whoopi Goldberg as Fantasy, a fairy-styled lavender fairy-tale book. She can be opprobrious, aggressive, and hotheaded.A raven cawing "Nevermore!" while swooping down from a bust of Pallas above the archway in Dr. Jekyll's manor. The animation in the film was produced by Turner Feature Animation, [2] headed by David Kirschner and supervising animator Bruce W. Smith and recently spun off from Hanna-Barbera. The crew included animators who were veterans of productions such as An American Tail (1986) (also produced by David Kirschner and composed by James Horner), The Land Before Time (1988). This was one of the first films to feature live-action, traditional animation, and CGI animation all together. One scene involving a computer-generated dragon made from paint was used, a challenge for the filmmakers. All of the fictional works featured in the film were created and first published before January 1, 1923, making them a part of the public domain in most countries. The theme songs in the film are " Dream Away", sung by Babyface and Lisa Stansfield, and "Whatever You Imagine", sung by Wendy Moten. Old, Dark House: Dr. Jekyll lives in a big, dark mansion on the edge of a cliff. While Richard comes across a few ghost stories, the much bigger threat is Jekyll himself once he transforms into Mr. Hyde. Reading Is Cool" Aesop: They certainly tried to do this, but as many people pointed out, it doesn't really encourage reading, instead name-dropping a few literary classics and using loose approximations of their plots and characters for action scenes. Additionally, both Nimoy and Welker voiced the character Galvatron in Transformers (with Nimoy voicing him in the 1986 film, and Welker voicing him in the television series and again in Transformers: Age of Extinction and Transformers: The Last Knight).