Conference bookie::movies

712.0. "The Pagemaster" by SWAM1::MILLS_MA (To Thine own self be True) Tue Nov 29 1994 13:56

    This one opened last week, and we took our 5-year old son to see it. He
    was the only one remotely interested in it, and then he squirmed more
    than usual. 
    
    I'm not one to think Disney is the only studio to turn out great
    animation, but this was so bad, I kept thinking, I wish it was a
    Disney movie. The premise is that Macauley Caulkin is a 'fraidy cat
    kid, terrified of EVERYTHING. His father sends him on an errand, during
    which a storm begins and he takes refuge in an old library. Slipping on
    the wet floor, he falls and hits his head, and the movie turns to
    cartoon.
    
    He then goes on an adventure trying to find the EXIT, with a bunch of 
    books that are trying to help him find the way out. 
    
    They ultimately find it, after the now obligatory original song, which
    in this case, was just stuck into the denouement, with for no apparent
    reason, but then, that's the problem throughout most of the movie.
    
    The colors are terrible, I suppose the lighting is supposed to be
    subdued because of where they are, but the result is that you end
    up almost squinting the entire cartoon sequence. The skin color on the 
    Macauley character is way too dark, but actually all the colors are
    so muted they really bothered me to watch. The story line is a big 
    so what, and the characterization practically non-existent. This was 
    obviously done to cash in one the current popularity of animated
    movies, and the box office draw of (even the voices of ) Whoopi
    Goldberg, Patrick Stewart, Leonard Nimoy, and Macauley (boy wonder) 
    Caulkin. Also totally wasted was the talents of Christopher Lloyd, whom
    I usually like, but his part, even had it been interesting, was too
    small to save this. 
    
    At one point, after checking my watch for the umpteenth time, I turned
    to my husband, and he had fallen asleep. I wish I had.    
    
    
    Don't bother.
    
    
    Marilyn

    
    	My almost four year old "never never wants to go see it again".
    My parents took her to see it.  My father fell asleep and my mother
    thought Macauley Caulkin screeched too much.
    
    	My daughter thought it was little scary but was more bored than
    anything else (though she did enjoy the popcorn).

    Thanks to the basenoter and the .1 reply. Shall save my money and time.
    Sums it up  quite nicely that a four year old found it boring. Think 
    (and hope) that M. Culkin has reached the end of his "career". dir
    

    We saw it too.  After we left the theater I was surprised how short the
    film was; it seemed a *lot* longer.
    
    The very dark animation didn't really bother me too much.  What I was
    quite disappointed with was the utter failure of the film to develop
    any of the plots that suggested themselves when the boy met the various
    literary characters.
    
    I made a real attempt to fall asleep during the movie, and apparently
    succeeded, as my wife had to stop me from snoring.

    We rented this over the weekend (along with Angels in the Outfield). 
    The kids actually enjoyed this and wound up watching it 2 or 3 times.
    My expectations were very low, so for me it was better than I thought
    it would be.  There is *one* good line in the flick that my wife and I
    enjoyed ...
    
    
    Adventure is about to face the dragon alone.  He and Fantasy have a
    romantic moment which is spoiled when Adventure says ...
    
    "How would you like to curl up with a good book?"
    
    Steve