If you *existed* in the early ’90s, you already know — it was the golden era of Macaulay Culkin. Excluding his Saturday morning animated series Wish Kid and a Michael Jackson music video, “Mack” starred in over a dozen movies across six years. He became the first child star to earn a million dollars. His face was one of the most recognizable ones in the country, and his Home Alone scream was an unavoidable part of the ’90s pop culture zeitgeist, remaining iconic decades later. But in 1994, Macaulay shocked the world by announcing his retirement from acting at 14 years old.
His final year before his long break from the spotlight proved his most prolific, offering a trio of Macaulay pictures. Unfortunately, they all bombed — including The Pagemaster, the then-child star’s first (and last, to date) animated movie. Thirty years later, it remains mostly forgotten.
The Pagemaster revisited
Trailer for “The Pagemaster”
Played by Macauley, Tyler is a timid child who is afraid of everything. He gets sent to buy his dad a sack of nails for building a treehouse that his father hopes will break his phobic ways. Reluctantly, Tyler sets out on his mission, avoiding perils like traffic and bullies, until an aggressively accurate lightning strike zaps his bike out of commission. He finds himself stranded at the steps of a library, where he seeks refuge from the pounding rainstorm.
Inside, he meets eccentric librarian Dewey (Christopher Lloyd), who gives the pre-teen a library card — but all Tyler wants to do is call his parents. As he walks through the rotunda seeking a phone, an elaborate mural of classic literary characters catches his eye, distracting him until he slips on a puddle made by his wet clothes.
In his concussed state, the fresco drips paint from the ceiling until it gushes to form a multi-color dragon, crashing on Tyler and transporting him into the cartoon world. There, he meets a trio of books named Adventure, Fantasy, and Horror (Patrick Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, and Frank Welker, respectively), who offer to help him return home in exchange for taking them out of the library.
The group runs afoul of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Captain Ahab, Long John Silver, and a dragon, as Tyler learns to confront his fears in fiction and real life.
The Pagemaster had a great celebrity cast, one that would make many Trekkies very pleased.
20th Century Fox
Paper cuts
Despite a heavy marketing push that included a Pizza Hut tie-in and a video game that Macaulay never knew about until he played it for the first time in 2018, The Pagemaster was a massive flop. Failing to recoup even half its overbudget cost to create, the critics were as unimpressed as moviegoers. Fitting for a story about libraries, VHS copies of The Pagemaster were destined to sit indefinitely on Blockbuster shelves, only rented when better movies were out of stock.
Every actor in Tinseltown knows you make a few stinkers in your career, so The Pagemaster being a dud didn’t cause Macaulay to step back from performing. However, by 1994, he was burnt out not only from his unyielding schedule but also from his overbearing and controlling father.
Kit Culkin became his son’s manager early in his career, quickly taking advantage of his child’s skyrocketing Hollywood presence. In addition to the demanding amount of work he buried his son in, there were abuse allegations from his wife and seven children. Kit also kept Macaulay in the dark about his finances and how much he earned. After three duds in a row, Macaulay reached his limit, but his father refused to let his golden goose stop.
“I was at this point where I really wanted to take a break… and I really wasn’t given that opportunity,” Macaulay explained in an interview with Larry King in 2004. I really didn’t feel like anyone was listening to me when I was saying those things, and so when I… was put in a position where I could take control of my own life and my own destiny and make decisions that were solely for my benefit and not for anyone else to make money on… I did.
Macaulay officially announced his retirement at 15, while his mom, Patricia, separated from Kit in 1995. The ensuing custody battle was a brawl, with Mack’s brother Kieran revealing, “[Kit’s] main concern was that he could be our manager. He was OK with losing custody if he could still be our manager.”
As the conflict raged, the Home Alone star learned his net financial worth and discovered that most of his wealth was tied up in a trust fund. Macaulay had his parents’ names removed from the trust and secured complete financial control to help his family, who ultimately estranged themselves from Kit. This was interpreted as Macaulay “emancipating” or “divorcing” his parents, but the truth is, his relationship with his mom and siblings was fine — it was his dad who was the problem.
Leaving The Pagemaster in the past
Nobody can deny The Pagemaster existed, even if very few people saw it.
20th Century Fox
Gene Siskel described it in 1994 as a flimsy movie, and 30 years later, that description holds up. The story is dull, interrupted by jump scares unevenly sprinkled throughout the film that might frighten younger viewers. The CGI was breakthrough for 1994, and the art direction flirts with sophistication for moments like Captain Ahab’s whale hunt or Mr. Hyde’s starkly-colored rampage. Still, it’s mostly a vanilla affair that’s easy to forget… like many have for the past three decades.
The moral of the story is finding courage with a side of friendship, but the movie missed its mark by not focusing more on another theme — not judging a book by its cover. Tyler is frightened by the Horror book at first but learns he is a good friend, while people they initially trust, like Dr. Jekyll, turn out to be wolves in sheep’s clothing. The seeds were planted for this concept to be more impactful than the generic “face your fears” lesson.
Every good book has a happy ending, and for Macaulay, his story continues to be positive. After some tumultuous years as a young adult, Macaulay found peace and happiness. He acts when (and if) he feels like it, created a comedy site and podcast, and found love with his wife, Brenda Song.
As for The Pagemaster, let’s just say the library won’t be missing this volume from their shelves anytime soon.
The Pagemaster is available on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
