Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium

Directed by Zach Helm (G)

The loony owner of a toy store teaches his pals the meaning of life.

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Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium praises the “wonders of imagination,” but was created by people who possess none, said Grady Hendrix in The New York Sun. In his fantastical debut, writer-director Zach Helm fails to offer the same wit and innovation he did as the screenwriter of last year’s Stranger Than Fiction. Dustin Hoffman plays Mr. Magorium, the wacky, 243-year-old owner of a toy store. In this fairy tale turned tragedy, Mr. Magorium decides it’s his time to die and hands over the emporium to his assistant (Natalie Portman). Toy airplanes fly and balls bounce, trying to capture the wonderment of life, but the special effects don’t bring much magic to the screen. A fantasy movie for children should “fill their heads with images they’ve never seen.” This is a case of adults underestimating kids, said Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory endured because Roald Dahl’s story was “brilliantly eccentric and respectfully unsentimental.” Helm encumbers his narrative with “strained zaniness and hazy morality” when he should’ve given his audience more credit. This “F.A.O. Schmaltz” of a film ends up inspiring more bemusement than amusement, said Roger Moore in the Orlando Sentinel. You leave the theater wondering why the movie was made in the first place.