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. The film was produced by Turner Pictures and Hanna-Barbera and released by 20th Century Fox on November 23, 1994. Culkin stars as a timid boy who uses statistics as an excuse to avoid anything he finds uncomfortable in life. But after reluctantly undertaking an errand for his father, he gets caught in a storm, which forces him to seek refuge in a library. 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.

Plot

Pessimistic 10-year-old Richard Tyler lives life based on statistics and fears everything. His exasperated parents have tried multiple ways to build up his courage, with little success. One day, Richard is sent by his father to buy a bag of nails for building a treehouse. However, Richard gets caught in a harsh thunderstorm and takes shelter in a library. Despite Richard's protests, he meets Mr. Dewey, an eccentric librarian/custodian who insists that he needs a special book and gives him a library card. Searching for a phone, Richard finds a large rotunda painted with many famous literary characters. He slips on water dripping from his coat and falls, knocking himself out. Richard awakens to find the rotunda art melting, which washes over him and the library, turning them into illustrations.