Dewey, the unconventional librarian and caretaker of a seemingly abandoned library Culkin is the only actor in the film to portray his character in both live-action and animation. Macaulay Culkin as Richard Tyler, a young 10-year-old boy who seems to have a fear of everything and runs his life based on safety statistics.Richard returns home a braver boy, sleeping in his new treehouse with his books. Dewey finds him, and, even though the library policy only allows a person to check out two books at a time, lets him check out all three books "just this once".
Richard awakens, finding Adventure, Fantasy, and Horror lying next to him as real books. The Pagemaster swoops Richard and the books into the twister, sending them back to the real world. Jekyll, Captain Ahab, Long John Silver, and the dragon reappear in a magical twister and congratulate him. Richard accuses the Pagemaster of causing the horrors that he suffered, but the Pagemaster reveals the journey was intended to make Richard face his fears. They enter a large dark room where the Pagemaster awaits them. He and the books climb the beanstalk to reach the exit. Richard finds books in the dragon's stomach and uses a beanstalk from Jack and the Beanstalk to escape through the dragon's mouth. Richard tries to fight the dragon with a sword and shield, but the dragon swallows him. However, Adventure's bumbling awakens a dormant dragon. In the fantasy section, Richard sees the exit sign on the top of a mountain. Silver attempts to convince Richard to leave with him but surrenders when Richard threatens him with a sword. Fantasy and Horror return and defeat the pirates. The pirates go to Treasure Island, but find no treasure except for one gold coin, nearly causing a mutiny between the captain and the crew. Richard and Adventure are shipwrecked and picked up by the Hispaniola, captained by Long John Silver. However, the group is separated after Moby-Dick attacks, following the whale's battle with Captain Ahab.
Hyde, driving them to the open waters of the Land of Adventure. Together, the quartet encounters classic-fictional characters. The three agree to help Richard if he checks them out using his new library card. Along the way, Richard befriends three anthropomorphic books: Adventure, a swashbuckling pirate-like book Fantasy, a sassy but caring fairy tale book and Horror, a fearful "Hunchbook" with a misshapen spine. Richard asks for directions to the exit, so the Pagemaster sends him through the fiction section toward the green neon exit sign. He is met by the Pagemaster, the mythical Keeper of Books and Guardian of the Written Word. Richard awakens to find the rotunda art melting, which washes over him and the library, turning them into illustrations.
He slips on water dripping from his coat and falls over, knocking himself out. Searching for a phone, Richard finds a large rotunda painted with many famous literary characters. Dewey, an eccentric librarian/custodian who insists that he is in need of a special book and gives him a library card, despite Richard's protests. However, Richard gets caught in a harsh thunderstorm and takes shelter in a library. Richard is sent to buy a bag of nails for building a treehouse. His exasperated parents have tried multiple ways to build up his courage to little success. Pessimistic 10-year-old Richard Tyler lives life based on statistics and fears everything. The film's poor box office performance, along with Cats Don't Dance (1997), set back other animated films for the animation studio, Turner Feature Animation. The film received negative reviews and grossed $13.7 million from a budget of $34 million. The film was directed by Joe Johnston (live-action) and Pixote Hunt and Glenn Chaika (animation), and produced by David Kirschner and Paul Gertz.
The film was written for the screen by David Casci, based on a six-page pitch by writer Charles Pogue entitled "Library Days", presented to Casci by producer David Kirschner. He then finds himself trapped inside the library, where he must battle his way through literary classics come to life if he is to find his way home. But after reluctantly undertaking an errand for his father, he gets caught in a storm, which forces him to seek refuge in a library. Culkin stars as a timid boy who uses statistics as an excuse to avoid anything he finds uncomfortable in life. The film was produced by Turner Pictures and Hanna-Barbera and released by 20th Century Fox on November 23, 1994. The Pagemaster is a 1994 American live-action/animated fantasy adventure film starring Macaulay Culkin, Christopher Lloyd, Whoopi Goldberg, Patrick Stewart, Leonard Nimoy, Frank Welker, Ed Begley Jr., and Mel Harris.