Care has been definitely placed into The Pagemaster. The live-action scenes – directed by Joe Johnston of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), Rocketeer (1991), Jumanji (1995), Jurassic Park III (2001), The Wolfman (2010) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) fame – are so-so. However, the animation is designed for big-screen scale and size where some of the individual scenes – like the Moby Dick sequence all in red or the climactic battle with the dragon, even the encounter with the fairies – are excellent.

What gives the film life is the voice work of Patrick Stewart and Whoopi Goldberg. The script provides them with some sly one-liners. Patrick Stewart has an absolute ball, getting into the larger-than-life “Me hearties” role and playing up the curmudgeonly soft-heartedness just right, while Whoopi Goldberg brings all her sass to the part of Fantasy. In fact, with Leonard Nimoy and Robert Picardo also present, the film seems like an unintentional Star Trek gathering – although Nimoy’s part is minor and completely undistinguished despite his top-billing. The film also has the obnoxious Macaulay Culkin – which may have been why it inspired such a negative reaction – but he is reduced to a voice for almost the entire film, which serves to lessen his irritability considerably.

The Pagemaster’s weak point is its story, which is linear and vaguely developed. It also does have an unfortunately media-informed view of the books in question – that The Red-Headed League (1891) is a book rather than a short story; that Gulliver’s Travels (1726) is a children’s book; or that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (the book) (1869) has an octopus scene in it.
 

Trailer here:-