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Title: Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
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I am of the belief that you can only be too sweet before you start becoming sour. Therefor I subscribe to the notion that there is only so much belief you can suspend in a movie before you start getting rubbed the wrong way. In this sense, I think I was at a major disadvantage with “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium,” a movie that looks so sweet I feared I would get cavities. But lo and beyond, the movie was written and directed by Zach Helm, who wrote the wonderful “Stranger Then Fiction” which, you may recall, was number six on my top ten best film list last year. I took that credential and ran with it, regardless what the sugar rush may be. Well, sugar this movie certainly has, mostly coming from Dustin Hoffman as Mr. Magorium, one of Hoffman’s more fun characters.
Mr. Magorium is some two hundred something years old. He was said to have beat President Lincoln at hop scotch, bought enough pair of shoes to last a lifetime, and at one point was called Steve by some random stranger. The trick to his long life, I believe, can be traced to the fact that Mr. Magorium looks like someone who has never been bored in his entire life. A master storyteller and overall nice guy, he reminds me of a cross between Walt Disney and Willy Wonka. His lovely assistant is Molly Mahoney, who is played by the always lovely Natalie Portman, a woman who is uncertain of her future and always expressing doubts about her great personality. Like always, we put up with this additude for two reasons. The first is that we need some conflict to move the story forward. The second is that we hope our kids learn something from this.
Chances are though, if you are watching this movie the story is the least of your concerns. We don’t particularly care about Molly’s personal problems. There’s a kid who hangs around the store who has no friends. We don’t really care about him either. And what of the accountant that Mr. Magorium hires, the one everyone simply calls Mutant? We kind of care about him, if only because his nickname is so random. What we really care about is the Wonder Emporium itself, which has so many cool toys, special effects, and energy, that we could stay in it all day. We could also hang out with Mr. Magorium all day, who is such a joy to be with we are saddened when we find out he’s going to die. It’s in this films revelation that the movie largely succeeds. Fun as the movie is, death is a tricky subject to deal with in a family film because the question kids always ask is “why.”
Why does Mr. Magorium have to die? What is death in general? Why must this happen? The movie not only gives us a satisfying answer to all these questions, but it does so in a very poetic way as well. Though I do admit to the energy wearing me down once in awhile, “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium” is sweet family entertainment, if not a little sticky at times.
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -