Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 26 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 61 Ratings

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 26
  2. Negative: 4 out of 26
  1. At its best, the movie makes you feel like a kindred spirit.
  2. 75
    Hoffman has countless characters inside of him, and this is one of his nicest.
  3. Reviewed by: Olly Richards
    60
    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.
  4. Reviewed by: Josh Rosenblatt
    30
    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.

See all 26 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 16
  2. Negative: 8 out of 16
  1. This movie requires that you put yourself and all of your demands aside, to just enjoy it and allow it to be. The script is deeper than it seems on the surface but there are many who refuse to open up and take it as anything more than face value. It seems like a lot of the reviews are trying to compare this movie with others or are unhappy with it because it's not what they wanted it to be. It doesn't surprise me that there are those who haven't appreciated the love it conveys whether too hardened or busy to notice, but this movie inexplicably touched my soul and it's one of my favorites. Expand
  2. JaredC.
    5
    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. Expand
  3. ChadS.
    3
    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. Expand
  4. BillyS.
    2
    Where is the wonder?

See all 16 User Reviews