I'm watching Pagemaster (1994) on the Encore Channel. This animated movie features the voice talents of McCauley Culkin, Patrick Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, Frank Welker, Leonard Nimoy and Christopher Lloyd.
I don't think I saw this in the theaters, but my nephew had a DVD of it which I quite enjoyed. The opening, live scenes were a bit... uh...McCauley Culkin seemed a bit too old to be such a wimp ...but the animated story was wonderful, I thought.
Patrick Stewart plays Adventure, Frank Welker plays Horror, and Whoopi Goldberg pays Fantasy. Culkin plays Richard Tyler, a timid boy who doesn't have the courage to ride his bike off a ramp (hey, maybe he's just got common sense, instead!) All the neighborhood kids laugh at him. Then, a storm hits, which forces him into a library. Soon, he finds himself transported into a variety of fictional worlds by the Pagemaster.
He has all kinds of adventures, aided by Horror, Adventure and Fantasy (thank god no love story! - although Adventure and Fantasy get a little something going.) (Adventure: How would you like to curl up with a good book?
[Fantasy wallops him]
Adventure: Ow, me binding!
Fantasy: In your dreams! )
and when he leaves the library it's to have the courage to take on that bike ramp.
It's a paeon to get kids reading, of course. Of letting them know of the joy to be found in books. Whether it actually resulted in a kid sitting down to read a book, I do not know.
The problem is that the version ENcore is showing is terribly blurry and faded...not something you'd expect of a movie that's only 14 years old. YOu'd think they'd have been able to pull a DVD off the shelf and play that! This version will unfortunately not gain the movie any fans, I dont' think.
No comments:
Post a Comment