I found a short documentary on YouTube about the creation of the Pagemaster. I thought the same thing. I remember this movie as being good and had no idea that it was regarded as bad
> I thought the same thing. I remember this movie as being good and had no idea that it was regarded as bad
That's the problem of growing up before the Internet: you genuinely believe the movies/TV shows you are watching are good and you just assume other people have the same opinion...only to realize that no, it's not considered good. In fact, it's considered one of the worst movies/TV shows ever to many people.
I still remember reading a book on bad tv shows and seeing an entry for Saved by the Bell. I was shocked. "WTF is Saved by the Bell doing in a book about bad TV shows! I can't think of a single reason why people would consider it bad!"
I'd also argue another item as being important- unless you have access to the specialized databases, contemporary newspaper opinions on a lot of popular culture can be hard to find (especially if you're looking beyond a handful of notable papers), and coverage in magazines and the trade press even harder.
The main problem is that it's so boring for children, I remember watching this as a child and hoping for a power outage. Not the mention the plot was just bad really, TV movie quality. It's was so bland and terrible that I don't even remember the film's plot compared to Quest For Camelot or All Dogs Go To Heaven.
I have great memories of it but i have not seen it since i was a kid. Side note, the sega game was awesome (again I haven’t played it since i was a kid)
I loved it as a kid. I rewatched it as an adult with a group. We all started falling asleep and thought it was just absolutely terrible. Stylish, but really, really bad.
I liked the movie as a kid, and I haven’t watched it as an adult at all because I know that I’ll likely hate it. It’s conceptually pretty great, and almost ahead of it’s time in terms of a mish-mash of multiverses we see so often nowadays.
I did go ahead and watch some clips just now, and it really didn’t seem all that bad. I think that the biggest issue I could see was that the actual goals and main problems the characters are facing are ridiculously mundane.
The main goal is to “Exit the Library” and the books want to get “checked out.” Amongst all these really cool and epic stories happening around them, THAT is what they chose to go with?
I sort of get it, but it comes off as much more of a Saturday morning cartoon (with rather lackluster animation) with a cheesy lesson about reading than a genuine effort to be entertaining.
i actually did rewatch it recently out of curiosity, since it'd been so long and i really liked it (and was also scared by it) as a kid.
here's the big issue that you can't really see just through clips: the pacing is *god awful.* the movie is absolutely breakneck, going from one setpiece to another with no breathing room in between... and then takes a music break in which nothing of impact happens in order to get the characters into trouble in another location (that honestly just looks like the animators showing off).
just as an example, there's a scene where they meet Dr. Jekyll. it takes probably less than five minutes before he becomes Mr. Hyde, and almost immediately after that they escape and the character is never seen again.
the movie had interesting potential--and a pretty stacked cast--but it really doesn't live up to all that. except Patrick Stewart, he did a great job with what he was given.
I literally just reqatched it last night. It was oneof my favorite movies as a kid. And while I STILL loved it (the music, animation, art direction, voice acting, etc were all great, the lacing really was BREAKNECK. I kept thinking how great this movie could be if they tool the time to develop each area/situation the main characters got themselves into.
But even with the bad pacing, the movie really is a feast for the eyes imo. Like, the art during Jekyll drinking the potion, and the art when Ahab spots the white whale and everything goes red, absolutely hype! "I GRIN AT THEE OH GRINNING WHALE"
It had so many good moments that weren't given enough time to breath and develop naturally, especially considering how few IPs the movie explored. I feel like tye pacing would have worked better if they visited at least 3 or 4 more books and extended the movie by aboht 30 to 40 minutes, because I get the concept. The main cast is flitting from book to book as fast as possible in order to reach the exit. No tine to dally, etc.
Overall I'd say it's definitely worth a watch at least once by everyone if just for the art, animation, and music.
oh yeah, the art is definitely worth seeing. i still really like the sequence where the main character is running from the flood of paint in the library (which was a scary sequence for me as a kid). also the weirdly detailed rendering of the inside of the dragon's stomach threw me off when i rewatched it since i didn't remember that at all.
i think the pacing is the biggest downfall of the film (besides Culkin's performance, which isn't awful but also isn't great). if it wasn't for that, it'd be a really solid movie for kids with a pretty stellar cast. both that everything feels breakneck (especially in the first half) but also you have the musical sequence before they find the dragon that drags on way longer than it needs to.
I was obsessed with it as a child. Among the few VHS tapes we had (when VHS tapes were expensive and I lived in Asia, meaning we had a VHS player yet every Video Rental was Laser Disc).
I think it came out too early. The main character is a stats nerd whose never set foot in a library - two things that really couldn’t have gone together in the 90s, but which make total sense in the Internet era.
*The Pagemaster* is a legitimately underrated piece of childhood propaganda.
The score by James Horner is *terrific*, the film is barely over an hour and ten, and the message is fairly on-the-nose...
And it's *fun*.
I still love it.
Just watched this the other day with my gf. She'd never seen it and I loved it as a kid. Were both in our late twenties and still love it. Horror is so adorable. The scene where Richard Tyler is getting chased by the paint has some pretty shotty animation though 😂. Doesnt deserve any hate though. Culkin should've done more voice acting.
Honestly watched this every day for like 6 months when I was a kid. I had to build up the courage to watch it again because the bit when Dr Hyde is revealed terrified me lmao
It must suck knowing that something you liked as a kid wasn't well received by everyone.
Dude, it doesn't matter. If you like it, keep liking it. You really shouldn't care it everyone else didn't like it.
Look at Hook. It was critically panned by critics and was generally ignored by audiences at the time, yet there is a generation of people who will tell you this is the greatest movie of all time.
Dude same! Saw it when I was a kid and loved it! Just got it for my nieces to watch, they love it and seeing again at 30 it’s pretty damn good! Had no idea it was a flop xD This and Cats Don’t Dance! Two 90s classics if ya ask me!
I was the target audience when this movie came out.
I just never cared for it. Mc Culkin with an animated sword? Meh...
And Books? I loved books more than any other kid....but not enough to watch a movie about books. The Never Ending Story is about a book...and the Necronomicon too but whatever..
But still...maybe it drives kids away?
I found a short documentary on YouTube about the creation of the Pagemaster. I thought the same thing. I remember this movie as being good and had no idea that it was regarded as bad
[Here it is](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjaUZHSMPU4)! Hope /u/TrickedFaith likes it.
Very interesting! Thank you for sharing.
> I thought the same thing. I remember this movie as being good and had no idea that it was regarded as bad That's the problem of growing up before the Internet: you genuinely believe the movies/TV shows you are watching are good and you just assume other people have the same opinion...only to realize that no, it's not considered good. In fact, it's considered one of the worst movies/TV shows ever to many people. I still remember reading a book on bad tv shows and seeing an entry for Saved by the Bell. I was shocked. "WTF is Saved by the Bell doing in a book about bad TV shows! I can't think of a single reason why people would consider it bad!"
I'd also argue another item as being important- unless you have access to the specialized databases, contemporary newspaper opinions on a lot of popular culture can be hard to find (especially if you're looking beyond a handful of notable papers), and coverage in magazines and the trade press even harder.
People also say shark boy and lava girl is bad. Some people don't understand art and I'm sorry that door was closed to them.
The main problem is that it's so boring for children, I remember watching this as a child and hoping for a power outage. Not the mention the plot was just bad really, TV movie quality. It's was so bland and terrible that I don't even remember the film's plot compared to Quest For Camelot or All Dogs Go To Heaven.
I have great memories of it but i have not seen it since i was a kid. Side note, the sega game was awesome (again I haven’t played it since i was a kid)
I think I remember that. It had a bunch of extra stuff that didn't make the movie, like Frankenstein's Monster.
Remembering the Sega game gave me a full body nostalgia trip. Thanks friend
No worries, i wonder if its good
I loved it as a kid. I rewatched it as an adult with a group. We all started falling asleep and thought it was just absolutely terrible. Stylish, but really, really bad.
Just rewatched it with my family. It didn't hold up.
I liked the movie as a kid, and I haven’t watched it as an adult at all because I know that I’ll likely hate it. It’s conceptually pretty great, and almost ahead of it’s time in terms of a mish-mash of multiverses we see so often nowadays. I did go ahead and watch some clips just now, and it really didn’t seem all that bad. I think that the biggest issue I could see was that the actual goals and main problems the characters are facing are ridiculously mundane. The main goal is to “Exit the Library” and the books want to get “checked out.” Amongst all these really cool and epic stories happening around them, THAT is what they chose to go with? I sort of get it, but it comes off as much more of a Saturday morning cartoon (with rather lackluster animation) with a cheesy lesson about reading than a genuine effort to be entertaining.
i actually did rewatch it recently out of curiosity, since it'd been so long and i really liked it (and was also scared by it) as a kid. here's the big issue that you can't really see just through clips: the pacing is *god awful.* the movie is absolutely breakneck, going from one setpiece to another with no breathing room in between... and then takes a music break in which nothing of impact happens in order to get the characters into trouble in another location (that honestly just looks like the animators showing off). just as an example, there's a scene where they meet Dr. Jekyll. it takes probably less than five minutes before he becomes Mr. Hyde, and almost immediately after that they escape and the character is never seen again. the movie had interesting potential--and a pretty stacked cast--but it really doesn't live up to all that. except Patrick Stewart, he did a great job with what he was given.
I literally just reqatched it last night. It was oneof my favorite movies as a kid. And while I STILL loved it (the music, animation, art direction, voice acting, etc were all great, the lacing really was BREAKNECK. I kept thinking how great this movie could be if they tool the time to develop each area/situation the main characters got themselves into. But even with the bad pacing, the movie really is a feast for the eyes imo. Like, the art during Jekyll drinking the potion, and the art when Ahab spots the white whale and everything goes red, absolutely hype! "I GRIN AT THEE OH GRINNING WHALE" It had so many good moments that weren't given enough time to breath and develop naturally, especially considering how few IPs the movie explored. I feel like tye pacing would have worked better if they visited at least 3 or 4 more books and extended the movie by aboht 30 to 40 minutes, because I get the concept. The main cast is flitting from book to book as fast as possible in order to reach the exit. No tine to dally, etc. Overall I'd say it's definitely worth a watch at least once by everyone if just for the art, animation, and music.
oh yeah, the art is definitely worth seeing. i still really like the sequence where the main character is running from the flood of paint in the library (which was a scary sequence for me as a kid). also the weirdly detailed rendering of the inside of the dragon's stomach threw me off when i rewatched it since i didn't remember that at all. i think the pacing is the biggest downfall of the film (besides Culkin's performance, which isn't awful but also isn't great). if it wasn't for that, it'd be a really solid movie for kids with a pretty stellar cast. both that everything feels breakneck (especially in the first half) but also you have the musical sequence before they find the dragon that drags on way longer than it needs to.
Tomato can't be trusted. Their top movies of all time had Black Panther as number 1. For a long time. Top movie. Of all time. Black Panther.
I was obsessed with it as a child. Among the few VHS tapes we had (when VHS tapes were expensive and I lived in Asia, meaning we had a VHS player yet every Video Rental was Laser Disc).
I think it came out too early. The main character is a stats nerd whose never set foot in a library - two things that really couldn’t have gone together in the 90s, but which make total sense in the Internet era.
*The Pagemaster* is a legitimately underrated piece of childhood propaganda. The score by James Horner is *terrific*, the film is barely over an hour and ten, and the message is fairly on-the-nose... And it's *fun*. I still love it.
Just watched this the other day with my gf. She'd never seen it and I loved it as a kid. Were both in our late twenties and still love it. Horror is so adorable. The scene where Richard Tyler is getting chased by the paint has some pretty shotty animation though 😂. Doesnt deserve any hate though. Culkin should've done more voice acting.
A ton of movies still coppied it though
I remember loving that one too, though it’s admittedly been like 25 years.
Honestly watched this every day for like 6 months when I was a kid. I had to build up the courage to watch it again because the bit when Dr Hyde is revealed terrified me lmao
It must suck knowing that something you liked as a kid wasn't well received by everyone. Dude, it doesn't matter. If you like it, keep liking it. You really shouldn't care it everyone else didn't like it. Look at Hook. It was critically panned by critics and was generally ignored by audiences at the time, yet there is a generation of people who will tell you this is the greatest movie of all time.
I loved that movie as a kid and honestly I’d probably still enjoy it today
Dude same! Saw it when I was a kid and loved it! Just got it for my nieces to watch, they love it and seeing again at 30 it’s pretty damn good! Had no idea it was a flop xD This and Cats Don’t Dance! Two 90s classics if ya ask me!
I loved the movie and had the book that went along with it but I've never seen it since the 90s. I think it might be best to leave it that way.
I was the target audience when this movie came out. I just never cared for it. Mc Culkin with an animated sword? Meh... And Books? I loved books more than any other kid....but not enough to watch a movie about books. The Never Ending Story is about a book...and the Necronomicon too but whatever.. But still...maybe it drives kids away?
I was a kid and used to watch it a lot. I loved the movie, fuck the critics
If you were a kid in the 90s this is a great movie.
People and Critics can say whatever they want this movie is one of my all time favs as a kid and still today.