I went into MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM fully expecting to hate it, yet I was left pleasantly surprised by the experience. It utilises the backdrop and narrative of a children's film to explore themes of work, commitment, death, and loyalty, and it does so in an interesting way. The setting is a magical toy shop presided over by a delightful Dustin Hoffman, who steals all of his scenes especially compared to the lacklustre Natalie Portman. I was pleased that the film doesn't overly rely on aimless CGI effects; they are present and they do serve the story, but not at the expensive of the more important film elements. The story is sentimental without being sickeningly so, and it's even quite moving in places. It reminded me of the old-fashioned feel of WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.

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.

Before Natalie Portman officially graduated to sex symbol (in the Marvel's THOR series) she was playing roles more like this one, where she is a sweet kid caught up in events she doesn't quite understand. Ultimately, by the end of the story, in order to resolve the plot, she must "believe" in her mission, a la Tinkerbell in Peter Pan. The director Zach Helm did not have a lot of credits on his IMDb bio (still doesn't, actually) and that sort of shows. But all things being equal, this was a better film than the ratings would indicate. The two stars, Portman and Hoffman, carry this film. Literally. I mean, there are stretches where they pick it up, pack it in their suitcases, and carry it forward to the next plot arc. And, make no mistake, Portman and Hoffman, that is a lot of concentrated star power, more than enough to compensate for the occasional glitch in the script, or the occasional moment where the director temporarily forgets whether he is doing a children's fantasy that may appeal to adults, or an adult fantasy that should also appeal to children. I enjoyed the film immensely, got carried away in the magic, and would recommend it to anyone of any age for a rainy day.

I saw the trailer and a couple of clips of this film while it was in cinemas, I could tell it was going to be one of those really bizarre and either love it or hate it kids' films, but I watched anyway. Basically Mr. Edward Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) is the owner of an awesome and magical toy shop, the Wonder Emporium, and twenty three year old Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman) is the manager, and being a promising composer she aspires to be a professional piano player, but she is stuck for inspiration because of working in the store. The store is a great success bringing happiness to children and adult customers alike, one customer includes lonely hat collector Eric Applebaum (Zach Mills) who only has Mr. Magorium and Molly for friends. Mr. Magorium is hiring accountant Henry Weston (Jason Bateman), who they nickname 'Mutant', to help adjust the accounts of the store and hopefully create better business, since the store magic is fading, and Mr. Magorium claims that at the age of two hundred and forty three years old it is his time to go, i.e. die. Before he plans to depart (the world) he gives Molly a wooden block called a Congreve cube, she asks him what it does, but he says that she will find within herself to work it out, but the store is fading to grey with his departure looming. Henry is one of those "just" people that sees everything as just what it is, with no imagination, he is just focused on helping the store make its business, and eventually the store completely fades the grey, Mr. Magorium dies and the store is put up for sale. In the end however Molly feels really passionate that anything can happen in the Wonder Emporium if Henry accepts that magic is real, and pointing to the block she knows it is not just a block, and soon enough it comes to life and brings magic back to the store, and Molly knows that the magic will live again if she becomes the new owner, and her music potential is restored as well. Also starring Ted Ludzik as Bellini, Jonathan Potts as Dr. Dunn, Marcia Bennett as Lora, Rebecca Northan as Ellie Applebaum, Oliver Masuda as Jordan, Samantha Harvey as Cassie and Steve Whitmire as Kermit the Frog. Portman is beautiful and sweet as the talented musician feeling held back but finding herself in the magic, Hoffman is alright as the eccentric lisping bonkers store owner, and Bateman is a little dull, the film does have some well meant sentiment, reasonable special effects and the kids watching will all be amazed and delighted, it wasn't all my cup of tea, but it is a pleasant enough adventure, a not bad but not great fantasy comedy drama. Okay!