Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

For those of you who though that this was a good movie for the kids, you may be surprised to find that you like it better than they did. Yeah it's about a magical toy store, and yeah it's about a man who talks and acts funny, but more than that it's about coming to terms with the end of things we care about.

This movie, while sometimes a touch preachy, preaches something that may just be worth considering. Change is often not what we want, and can even leave us in pain, but with the proper perspective change can also be exactly what we need. It also has strong things-are-not-just-what-they-seem-and-often-what-you-make-them, whenever-one-door-closes-another-one-opens, and an-end-is-just-a-new-beginning themes throughout it. Pretty heavy stuff for movie-goers who are old enough to catch it, but thankfully you're not beaten to death with it.

Some parts of this movie are eye-rollingly cliche and seem a bit forced, but other parts of it are brilliantly told, especially when Mr. Magorium talks about moving on. He's not just a goofy old man who talks funny, he's a source of hundreds of years of wisdom, all of which has taught him that your perspective is the most important factor in your life, and it's entirely in your hands. I thought that Dustin Hoffman did a brilliant job with the part. Natalie Portman was good in this role, but not perfect¹. Jason Bateman did a great job of being the grown-up, and the everykid was perfect. Other than some of the customers who were a bit too much, everyone else in this movie was great.

This movie was a lot of fun, but wasn't made with kids in mind. It's a bit heavier than we were all led to believe, but not unnecessarily so. It's also nice that, in this day and age, a movie with a whole lot of CGI can still have good writing.

high points: Mr. Magorium's speeches make mortality seem not that bad. Hats hats hats!
low points: Really, that's the best you can do to make the CG balls look realistic? Most perfect day ever = most annoying part of the movie. Go back to ruling ancient future worlds Natalie, you're just not cut out to be a conductor/dancer (conduncer?).

1) Of course maybe I looked at her performance with the wrong perspective.