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Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 47 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Family/Kids | Fantasy
Written by: Zach Helm
Directed by: Zach Helm
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 16, 2007
DVD: March 4, 2008
Running Time: 93 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: G for General Audiences
Starring Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Bateman
After inheriting Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, Molly Mahoney struggles to preserve the magic of the amazing toy store.
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site View The Trailer
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
At its best, the movie makes you feel like a kindred spirit.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Twenty or 30 minutes into Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium the urge to flee may rise within you like an oceanic tide. But stick with it. The film is very sweet--in fact it represents the dawn of a new sport, Extreme Whimsy.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Hoffman has countless characters inside of him, and this is one of his nicest.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
It's not "The Wizard of Oz," and its cotton-candy fantasy of a story line is definitely aimed at very young children. But it's well made, and adults likely will find themselves yielding to its gentle, whimsical charm.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
Helm gets huge bonus points for noticing everything that's annoying about modern children's films and including none of those things in his movie.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
Kids will enjoy the experience overall: It's a little messy and undercooked, but still vastly more imaginative and entertaining than junk like "Fred Claus."
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
Credit production designer Therese DePrez and set decorator Clive Thomasson for the marvelous setting, a charmed building with a life of its own.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
This isn't your usual kiddie fare: Beneath the initial glare and blare is a quietly literate script by first-time writer-director Zach Helm that deals directly with big issues like believing in yourself and living on after a loved one passes away. But is it heavy? Not really.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Writer/director Zach Helm, who wrote "Stranger Than Fiction," achieves bursts of charm and whimsy, but not quite enough magic to elicit a consistent sense of wonderment.
Read Full Review >Empire Olly Richards
Structurally it’s a bit ragtag, but, as your mum would say, it has its heart in the right place. For all its wilful oddness it’s enchanting, imaginative and genuinely moving.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
There's something a little annoying about a movie that tries this shamelessly to be endearing and family friendly.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
In this G-rated movie the effects are gee-whiz, with live giraffes amid the stuffed animals and bouncy balls so manic that they could use some Ritalin.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
While endearingly heartfelt and G-rated to boot, its storytelling suffers from a lack of locomotive force and characters that feel disappointingly two-dimensional.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
About a magical toy shop, but it has some of the sadder moments I've seen in a movie all year.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
There isn't anything terribly exciting or original on offer in the somewhat poky directing debut of screenwriter Zach Helm.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
If the concept is ingenious, its execution is erratic.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
It's hard to escape the feeling that what Zach Helm's directorial debut really wants to be is "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." But where Roald Dahl's story was brilliantly eccentric and respectfully unsentimental, Helm's is heavy with strained zaniness and hazy morality.
Read Full Review >Variety Brian Lowry
Sprinkles in charming moments but ultimately doesn't evoke enough wonderment to overcome its tongue-twisting title and completely win over adults along with kids.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ella Taylor
Helm's pacing is as pallid as his palette is vivid, and for a movie that celebrates wonder and strangeness, the whole enterprise feels coy and half-baked.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden
For all its playful touches and neat-o nostalgia for nondigital entertainment, the whimsy feels forced.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
The idea of a toy store as a living, responsive being is a good one, but Helm doesn't take that idea to imaginative places.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt
The film’s one saving grace is Bateman, the only actor on set who seems unwilling to give himself over to Magorium’s philosophy that the key to a fulfilling life can only be found in pathological regression. Maybe he just needs more whimsy in his life.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
The movie, directed (and written) by Zach Helm in grotesquely bright colors, means to approach the creepy wonder of Roald Dahl but gets only the creepy part right.
Read Full Review >Premiere Laura Repstad
For a movie built around a brightly-colored, magical toy store, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is surprisingly forgettable. In fact, it's most wondrous feat is just how it manages to waste good actors and fine performances.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Mr. Magorium, who is 243 years old (so are his jokes), is a cross between Willy Wonka and Geppetto, but Hoffman plays him with little more than a goofy dumb lisp, achieved by tucking his lower lip under his upper teeth, so that he looks just as rabbity-stoopid as he sounds.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.1 (out of 10) based on 47 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jeanine T. gave it a9:
First viewing - that was fun. 2nd viewing - Hey, there's more to this than I realized. 3rd viewing - Ah-ha! This is like " The Little Prince." It appears simple but has much deeper messages in it. 4th viewing - I want to finish what this story started! A great story. Great acting. Great potential for a sequel. It's a keeper.
Michael B. gave it a10:
This magical movie with natalie portman and dustin hoffman was great!
Caithlin O. gave it a10:
I thought the movie was wonderful. Some of the diaglogue was super. "Your life is an occassion. Rise to it." Is a great line. I thought Hoffman did a great job of acting. I have watched the movie 6 times on pfv. I see something different each time. Molly's finding her muse to complete her concerto at the end ties the movie together . Now she can still be a part of the magic in the store and feel the muse within herself to create more music. . I am sorry others did not see what I see in the movie. But then not everyone has to agree.
K R gave it a9:
I thought this movie was both charming and half-way to hilarious.It's everlasting message is easy to understand, yet sinks to a depth in your heart that you are forced to reflect on your own life. And, of course, who could forget that adorable little sock monkey(who only wanted a hug)?! Before I close this statement, I ask the world(or those of it reading this): Why can't we all be just a bit more like Mr.Magorium?Overall, i enjoyed this film immensely, and plan on watching it again :)
Chad S. gave it a3:
Even in the movies where anything is possible, laying down a bubblewrap dancefloor as a preventive measure against suicidal tendencies doesn't work, much to Molly's dismay as Mr. Magorium(Dustin Hoffman) pops, pops, pops away; happier, but still harboring a death wish underneath all that crazy hair. Like his character in "Rainman", Mr. Magorium is a one-note performance, but this time Hoffman doesn't delight, he grates on our ears. That lisp, in concert with the toymaker's whimsical outlook on life, doesn't out-crazy Gene Wilder's performance in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", but it comes close. Before his rapture for one, Mr. Magorium wants Molly(Natalie Portman) to run the toy store. His charge used to be a promising pianist, but this film contends that the music of life is a higher calling, which makes "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" a sort of evil "Mr. Holland's Opus". Despite the happy ending, the film never resolves Molly's dream of being a famous composer. She's the hero. She brings the toy store back to life. But Molly is only a conduit for that block of wood Mr. Magorium entrusted to her. Now Molly's post-graduate rut is official: She's never leaving Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.
Billy S. gave it a2:
Where is the wonder?
Jared C. gave it a5:
Soon to be a futuristic classic, Mr. Magorium's Woner Emporium justifies what a true famile/fantasy should be. But unexpectedly punches you in the mouth half way point with a comeplete letdown. Its a classic in the type of a way that Sleuth's a classic, but still doesn't reach a good enough standard to be a Zach Helm masterpiece.
