Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Python Hyena Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007): Dir: Zach Helm / Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman, Zach Mills, Kiele Sanchez: Festive family film about magic. Dustin Hoffman plays Mr. Magorium who for reasons not given is the owner of a magical toy store for over 200 years. When he decides to pass the business down to the manager, played by Natalie Portman the store acts up. Makes no sense but director Zach Helm has fun with the visualized toys. Everything comes to life like some sort of enclosed theme park. This is about the best element of the film, which fails to make up for the fact that the screenplay is a dud. Hoffman is an excellent talent but even he cannot make sense of this individual. He is given little if any background and the whole story behind his leaving is just plain depressing. Portman fares much better because she brings a sense of reality and reason to the material although it is obvious that it will hint future innuendo with the accountant. Jason Bateman as a stern faced accountant will need more than magic to come to life. Zach Mills plays a boy struggling to adapt socially. With an idea and visual appeal of this film one would think that it would be more fun and high spirited but instead viewers are treated to an invitation to drink heavily. In the end, the screenwriter brought no wonder to the Emporium. Score: 4 / 10

TheBlueHairedLawyer This movie seems really cheesy and silly watching it as an adult, but it came out when I was a kid and tells the story of how everyone needs some imagination in their life. It's slightly strange and it's like the son of Opal Dream and Charlie & the Chocolate factory, in a sense.The plot follows an array of characters: A washed up child prodigy who now manages a toy store at the age of twenty three, a little boy who collects assorted hats but has trouble making friends, an accountant who has a rather dull outlook on life and Mr. Magorium, an eccentric, elderly man who set up the world's "most fabulous" toy store (but can it compete with Toys R' Us? >:) The toy store has an assortment of children coming in at different hours of the day, either to buy toys or just to play with them. The problem is, Magorium claims to be 200-some years old, and ready to be maggot-food. Molly (the former child prodigy) tries to do everything in her power to prevent this. Meanwhile, the hat-collecting boy, Eric, takes his mom's advice on making a new friend, and befriends the accountant.I don't know why, but Molly was a character I didn't really like very much. She seemed really self-absorbed. She's mad that she works at a toy store instead of a concert hall. Well, I wanted to be an actor or cop, but I publish books instead. And I'm grateful I have a job, a lot of people don't have any job at all. I realize that Molly was a character with a dream in life and all that stuff, but it's hard to sympathize when your province's economy is going down the tubes and jobs are hard to get in reality. She got more likable as the movie went on though. Magorium was like Willy Wonka mixed with Dumbledore, or "the man behind the curtain" in The Wizard of Oz. He's responsible for the magic in the toy store and he provides it with life... or so everyone thinks. Eric is the small, almost nerdy little boy often in this genre of film; had this been filmed in the 90's they probably would've hired Macaulay Culkin or Marc Marut to play his role instead. The accountant, he's overly boring in an obvious attempt to hide anything individual about the character until the later half of the movie.This is a very strange but likable movie, at least for kids. I'm sure many adults could find a lot about it to enjoy, whether it be the nostalgic commercial toys, a crazy old man dancing on bubble wrap like an idiot, a fat boy being squashed by a rubber ball or a toy store harassing people when it gets mad.

SnoopyStyle Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman) is the manager of the magical toy store Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and an apprentice to Mr. Edward Magorium (Dustin Hoffman). Molly was a promising composer but has since lost her confidence. Eric Applebaum is a friendless boy except for Molly and Mr. Magorium. Mr. Magorium hires accountant Henry Weston (Jason Bateman) to get the accounts in order. He gives Molly a block of wood called Congreve and asks Henry to transfer the Emporium to her name.If I'm a kid, I would love this store. Kermit would drop by. It looks like a lot of fun and the movie spares no expense to make this CG heaven. I keep wondering what's the relationship of the store to the real world. Do adults remember the magic after they leave the store? It's odd that nobody seems to be surprised. The movie should explain the world more. Molly and Henry aren't actually that compelling. The character growth is easy. There isn't much of a story here.

slightlymad22 I caught this movie on TV with my 8 year old son the other day.Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman) is the manager of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, an awesome toy store owned by Mr. Edward Magorium. One of the regular costumers is the lonely boy called Eric, who has only Molly and Mr. Magorium for friends. Mr. Magorium hires the accountant, Henry Weston (Jason Bateman) to sort out the accounts of the Emporium. Furthermore, he asks Henry to transfer the Emporium to Molly's name upon his death. Hoffman seems to be having a lot of fun behind Mr. Magorium's hairdo, bushy eyebrows and lisping vocals. Natalie Portman (who learned to play the piano for her role) is lovely and has a permanent sparkle in her eye.Jason Bateman is Jason Bateman, much like Ben Stiller always plays the same type of Ben Stiller type characters, with the exception of Zoolander and Dodgeball. But Bateman doesn't have a Zoolander or Dodgeball character in his filmography, and the characters he plays all seem to blend in to one. I don't understand all the negative comments about this movie, as both me and my son enjoyed it. Portman and Hoffman are always worth watching, and I'm puzzled as to why it has taken me so long to watch it.