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Bookmark this pageMr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007)
Director: Zach Helm
Movie review
From Time Out London
The trailer makes Zach Helm’s fantasy look appealing, as if it were a companion to ‘Lemony Snicket’s…’ or ‘Nanny McPhee’. It turns out to be no more than a dull, whimsical, superficial film about a 243-year-old toy shop owner who is fast approaching the end of his life. We have no idea why Mr Magorium (Dustin Hoffman, with wig and lisp) is so old and about to die. What we do know is that his emporium is so magical that all the toys spring to life. Now, with old Mags about to pop off, the shop senses a sad future and throws a fit by turning everything grey.
Will Magorium’s successor, manager Natalie Portman, have the belief in the power of magic to restore the store’s powers? Will she ever fall in love with Jason Bateman’s accountant? And who is the kid with the silly hat? Let’s not be too Scrooge-like; there are pockets of charm, and some of the effects are quite good. But if you want your children to experience notions of mortality in the realms of fantasy, rent ‘Bridge to Terabithia’.
Author: Derek Adams
Time Out London Issue 1947: December 12-18 2007
User reviews of this film
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- ivan said...
- Posted on Dec 21 2007 18:17 best film ive ever seen
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- CarriKP said...
- Posted on Dec 21 2007 14:06 Comments as previous message of mine - disappointing.
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- CarriKP said...
- Posted on Dec 21 2007 14:04 This was a disappointing film that never really got off the ground. Some nice bits - good acting from the cheeky kid and the bemused suit-wearing accountant. Also a charming theme - shame it wasn't handled with more 'oomph.' Dustin wasn't quite up to his usual standard, sadly, for those of us who've seen Tootsie!
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- Als said...
- Posted on Dec 20 2007 13:24 It was watchable but thats about it, the whole way through I was just waiting for something to happen, nothing did. The whole film was just lacking any real plot and just dawdled along to a rubbish ending.
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- stephanie hawthorne said...
- Posted on Dec 20 2007 13:06 i dont know what to say a lot of people said they were very disapointed in the film i was going to see it with my brother and dad to go to moz night but i dont know because a lot of pepole said it was boring
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- f said...
- Posted on Dec 19 2007 22:21 Plain boring
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- Jonathan Hill said...
- Posted on Dec 16 2007 19:57 This was probably the most disappointing film I have ever seen. I found it utterly boring and so did my 5 year old grandson. We both stuck with it for the special effects. But the storyline and the characters were extremely trivial. Even Dustin could not rescue this film.
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- Angela Bennett said...
- Posted on Dec 15 2007 16:33 I have no idea what this film was about. Not the fun, magical family film I expected. My seven year lost interest in the film almost straight away and was upset when Mr Magorium departed in the middle of the film. Wish we had seen something else
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- Bend said...
- Posted on Dec 14 2007 16:31 It was really funny lots of ideas
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Cast & crew
Director: Zach Helm
Producer: Richard N Gladstein, James Garavente
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman, Zach Mills full cast
Genre(s): Children's, Comedy, Fantasy
Rated: U
Duration: 94 mins
UK Release: Dec 14 2007
US Release: Nov 16 2007
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