The Wrist here. Welcome to my third article for MousePlanet, where I talk about what it's like to work in the animation industry from the "inside"! (Wow, me, an insider? Who knew!) The term "wrist", by the way, for those of you who are new to the column, is the term given by the clever beancounters of various studios to the artists who do the real work. We are forever grateful.

When last we met, it was 1992 and I had been in Los Angeles two years, still starry-eyed (more or less) at being in Hollywood and working on big-screen animated features. I had just finished working on my second one, Once Upon A Forest for Hanna- Barbera, which, after a week and a half in theaters, tanked and went straight to video.

On its heels, however, was The Pagemaster. After two losers (the first one being Rover Dangerfield), this one promised to be a big-time contender! A Twentieth Century Fox / Turner Pictures production, it boasted big-name actors and hot Hollywood producers, directors, and animators fresh from Disney. Then boy- wonder Macaulay Culkin, Christopher Lloyd, Patrick Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, and Leonard Nimoy were among the voice talent. Producers were David Kirschner and Paul Gertz. The music was composed by James Horner. The film's director, Maurice Hunt, as well as my department supervisor, were brought over from Disney.

The story, written by Kirschner, David Casci, and Ernie Contreras, seemed charming enough. A timid young boy, forced to take refuge in a spooky library during a storm, encounters the mysterious Pagemaster, who sends him on an adventure through the pages of literature. Accompanied and guided by the trio of Adventure, Fantasy, and Horror, the boy discovers his own Inner Hero and returns to real life with renewed courage and self-confidence. Kind of a modern-day version of The Wizard of Oz.

The home video release of The Pagemaster - Click to buy from Amazon

Expectations, as well as morale, were high. Much of the crew that had worked on Forest was brought over from the ugly gray building across the street from Hanna- Barbera and moved into the modern glass structure next door. Our department immediately began work on the picture's opening title, which was a visually impressive, but complex scene, and it took several weeks to complete. It was around then that I had my 40th birthday, and a couple of my co-workers kindly decorated my work area with black balloons in honor of the event. I also met my partner around that time.

So, life was good, as was production on the movie, despite concerns over the early sequences that many of us felt were colored too dark, making them difficult to watch, and a general weakness in the story and character development. Well, it wasn't as if we'd never heard that before, and as always we were our own worst critics. Fox was preparing a big marketing campaign for the film, and producer David Kirschner was practically jumping up and down with glee in anticipation of the release of his brainchild. He gave us a spectacular Christmas party at his home in Hollywood that year which I'll never forget.

Despite being held at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in North Hollywood (with lots of free munchies and cool gift bags), the studio screening of The Pagemaster was less than spectacular, meeting only with mediocre applause at the end (didn't I say we were our own worst critics?). The review by Siskel and Ebert didn't help either - Roger liked it (he likes animation in general, thank goodness), while Gene didn't, complaining about the darkness of the early sequences (hadn't we tried to warn them?) and finding the rest of the picture to be generally lacking.

As always, although the picture had some wonderful animation in it, if the story and characters aren't interesting, it's waste of effort. The movie had a weak opening weekend (where word-of-mouth can make or break a new film), and like Rover Dangerfield and Once Upon A Forest before it, The Pagemaster was soon on its way to videoland. Damn! At least I got a beautiful crew jacket, and some good memories, out of the experience.

But would I ever get to work on a successful (commercial, as well as artistic) animated feature, let alone a Disney film?

Stay tuned...

Until next time, Planeteers - pencils UP!

The Wrist

Promotional art © Twentieth Century Fox

Read James Berardinelli's review (He's Roger Ebert's favorite reviewer)

Here's what appears to be a study guide to the movie

A imdb (Internet Movie Database) page also offers trailers from "The Pagemaster"

You can also purchase "The Pagemaster" at Amazon

(The links above will open new browser windows, so you won't lose your place here).

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