I’d read a few bad reviews of this prior to seeing it.[1. It garnered a C+ at Yahoo! Movies. A friend of mine also mentioned he didn’t like it but I don’t know why I ever listen to his opinions about movies—one of his favorites is Mars Attacks.] It doesn’t quite live up to expectations—it’s formulaic and predictable—but it has its moments of charm and grace. The story is really about Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman) fulfilling her destiny while Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) and the Emporium take supporting roles. I wish that more time had been spent developing the characters of The Mutant and Mr. Magorium. The film fell short in a few areas because I just didn’t care enough about the supporting cast. The kids liked it. I must admit it tickled me whenever Henry was called “mutant.”

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (Netflix)

Comments

1. Phil on 2008-03-26 16:02:56 wrote: We just watched it on Saturday. The kids were thrilled by everything in the movie. Who wouldn’t want to visit that kind of toy store? I liked it, but like you I felt that it could’ve been more. Case in point was that block of wood. I was expecting it to do something wonderful and amazing, but all it did was zip around the room a couple of times. Oh well, it was an engaging story, and Natalie Portman is always incredibly cute.

2. Amy on 2008-03-26 16:08:17 wrote: I agree with the “left feeling a bit…eh” but I LOVED the Mutant thing….loved it…giggled everytime :) Izzy loved it though….and it IS for kids :)

3. Backpacking Dad on 2008-03-26 16:57:46 wrote: I took my daughter to see this when it was in the theaters because it looked extremely colorful and kinetic. I was really disappointed that the last half of the movie was so colorless. And it played as though based on a book (I’ve never botherd to look), and probably a wonderful book that helps teach kids difficult, advanced words. But if that’s true it’s not much of a basis for something to be transfered to the visual medium. Dustin Hoffman was good. Natalie Portman bored me. Flying box thingy? Enh.