Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (Widescreen Edition)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Dustin HoffmanBrand: HOFFMAN,DUSTIN
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 93 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-03-04
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: Highly Effective Film-making
Summary: 4 Stars
The children's movie "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" is highly manipulative and highly effective film-making. Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) is a toystore wizard whose decided that it's time for him to depart from this world not because 243 years is a long time to live but because he's run out of his favorite shoes. Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman) is his apprentice who once as a piano prodigy tried to compose a master concerto but now as Mr. Magorium's heir apparent must figure out what to do with a block of wood. To help her Mr. Magorium has hired an accountant or "a counting mutant" (Jason Bateman), who as a humorless workaholic represents all that's wrong with the adult world, and so kids instinctively like to step on him. Serving as the narrator and the conscience of the movie is nine-year old Eric.
With Mr. Magorium as the composer the wonder emporium is simply a visual symphony, with shiny fire engines popping out of dusty books and Lego construction workers causing fire hazards. Everything is so cute and cuddly, as are the characters. Dustin Hoffman is very good, Jason Bateman is his usual likable self even when he's playing the movie's antagonist, and Natalie Portman manages to yet again demonstrate the full range of her acting talents even in a movie as emotionally one-sided as this one. This is a feel-good movie, and even the supposedly weird narrator Eric is weird only because he has the wisdom of someone who has lived three centuries.
And as a feel-good movie it slides into conflict and climax without really doing so. Mr. Magorium's last day is one big holiday, his depature is treated as a non-event, and Molly Mahoney's "rise to the occasion" is so assured that we have to credit the movie with even pretending anything else was possible.
Yes, this movie may be predictable and plotless but it raises an interesting point about how children and the elderly benefit society. Modern economics views children and the elderly as "dependents," meaning they use important resources without helping to create wealth. Economists have long known that a population with a large proportion of working adults relative to dependents (Ireland, China, and soon India) benefit from fast and tremendous growth; the converse is also true, and so it's easy and quick to believe that the less children and elderly there are the better.
"Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" suggests these so-called dependents have an instrinsic and priceless social value: in them lies humanity's collected wisdom that adults have too easily forgotten. The counting mutant never believed in the magic of faith to change one's world, and Molly Mahoney had forgotten to believe but Eric always believed, and he believed with such a stubborn passion that he, not Molly Mahoney, is Mr. Magorium's true heir apparent. Eric is the only one who understands the counting mutant is really a child at heart, that it is time for Mr. Magorium to leave, and that Molly Mahoney is the only one who can inherit the store. The adults must struggle to discover truths that come instinctively to Eric.
That's because this is a children's movie, and Eric is the true hero and protagonist. More than conversing with the Molly Mahoneys and the counting mutants of this world (who as caricatures don't really exist) this movie is telling the the lonely and underappreciated Erics of this world that everyday because they see color in a world of gray and have faith in an overly rational world they help blind adults see.
But is this really true? Well, as Eric and Mr. Magorium would say, you just have to believe.
Summary of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (Widescreen Edition)
Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) owns and runs the most magical store in the universe, where all of the toys for sale are alive. But, when the aging shopkeeper decides to retire and sell the business to his faithful cashier (Natalie Portman), he hires an uptight accountant (Jason Bateman) to get his affairs in order.Equal parts whimsical and bittersweet, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is a family-friendly movie that will charm youngsters. Dustin Hoffman stars in the titular role of an eccentric 243-year-old owner of a magical toy store. He doesn't appear to be sick, but he has lived a long and happy life and is content to leave his emporium to his employee Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman). A former child prodigy who has grown up unsure of herself, she barely knows who she is, much less what she wants to become. Molly is both frightened that her beloved boss is leaving and that she will be left in charge of a store she doesn't know how to run. "Are you dying?" she asks him. Magorium points out, "Light bulbs die, my dear. I am departing." His take on death is both comforting and matter of fact, things younger viewers may find soothing when dealing with mortality. Though the film has drawn comparisons to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this G-rated venture is less dark, curious and interesting than the former. Still, it offers dazzling visuals and a premise that who you are isn't equivalent with who you think you are. Adult moviegoers may find the premise cloying and repetitive. But seen from a child's eye, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is indeed a magical place for a short visit. --Jae-Ha Kim
Beyond Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
 Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium Books |  Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium Toys and Games |  More Kids & Family titles from Fox |
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