Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is a 2007 Canadian–American family/children's fantasy comedy film written and directed by Zach Helm, produced by FilmColony, Mandate Pictures, Walden Media, Richard N. Gladstein and James Garavente and music composed by Alexandre Desplat and Aaron Zigman.

The film stars Dustin Hoffman as the owner of a magical toy store, and Natalie Portman as his store employee. Also starring Jason Bateman as the accountant and Zach Mills as the hat collector and his store volunteer.

The film was theatrically released on November 16, 2007 by 20th Century Fox. The film received mixed reviews and grossed $69.5 million worldwide. Helm subsequently disowned the film in later years. It received a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actor. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 4, 2008 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Plot
Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman), an amateur pianist, is an employee at "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium", a magical toy shop run by 243-year-old Mr. Edward Magorium (Dustin Hoffman). Besides Molly and Mr. Magorium, store bookbuilder Bellini (Ted Ludzik), a strongman, is also employed. Eric Applebaum (Zach Mills) is a boy who comes to the store daily and functions as an employee despite his age. One day, the store develops a large grey patch on one of its walls.

Mr Magorium gives Molly the Congreve Cube, a block of wood, and tells her it will guide her to a new life if she has faith in it. Molly wants to become a concert pianist and composer but has not been able to complete her first concerto.

Mr. Magorium announces that he intends to "leave" and is giving the shop to Molly. In preparation for his departure, Mr. Magorium hires an accountant, Henry Weston (Jason Bateman), to organize the shop's paperwork and determine his legacy to Molly. Henry does not believe that the toy store is magical.

When Molly expresses her doubts and becoming upset about her ability to run the store, the Emporium 'throws a tantrum', assaulting everyone inside with the toys until Magorium calms it down. Molly realizes that Mr. Magorium is going to die, so she rushes him to a hospital where he is discharged the next day. She then attempts to prevent Mr. Magorium's departure by showing him the joys of life. Back at the store, Magorium uses the stage notes of Shakespeare's King Lear to make a point about the natural simplicity of death before dying himself. Believing herself to be incapable of owning a magical store, Molly puts the Emporium up for sale, and the store loses all its magic.

Henry meets Molly to draw up the sale papers, where he sees the Congreve Cube and asks her about it. When Molly confesses her complete faith in the store, the block flies around the store. After witnessing this, Henry faints with shock. When he awakes and questions Molly, she tells him that it was a dream. He then learns Molly made the cube fly and he believes in her, realizing Molly can be anything if she believes in herself. The store returns to its former glory as her confidence builds.

Cast

 * Dustin Hoffman as Mr. Edward Magorium, a toy impresario, a wonder aficionado, and an avid shoe wearer. He is loved by all, and has lived for over two centuries. He lives in his own home hidden behind a magical closet with a knob that turns to change rooms and owns a pet zebra named Mortimer.
 * Natalie Portman as Molly Mahoney, the Store Manager, and former child piano prodigy, who feels "stuck" in life and struggles with self-doubt.
 * Jason Bateman as Henry Weston (aka "Mutant"), the straight-laced, rigid Accountant hired to get Mr. Magorium's paperwork and will in order. He does not believe in the shop's magic—until the end of the film.
 * Zach Mills as Eric Applebaum, a 9-year-old Hat Collector who comes to the store regularly and functions as an employee despite his age. He interacts with the people in the store, although he has trouble making friends. He also narrates the beginning, the end, and introduces the chapters.
 * Ted Ludzik as Bellini, the Bookbuilder who was born in the shop's basement. He also writes Mr. Magorium's biography. He looks like a circus strong-man with a big moustache that curls round at the end; he also has full sleeve tattoos on both arms.
 * Kiele Sanchez as Mrs. Goodman
 * Jonathan Potts as the doctor

Production
Filming started March 31, 2006 and continued to June 6, 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The film was produced by FilmColony's Richard N. Gladstein and Gang of Two's James Garavente and financed by Walden Media, and Mandate Pictures's Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane. A cameo "just shopping" in the emporium marked the first major theatrical appearance of Kermit the Frog since 1999's Muppets from Space.

Novelization
Written by Suzanne Weyn, the novelization was published in 2007, by Scholastic Inc.

Release
The premiere of Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium, attended by Natalie Portman and Dustin Hoffman, also doubled as a fundraising event with tickets having been made available to the public. Funds raised at the event were donated to the Barnardo's children's charity and other charities based in the United Kingdom.

Box office
The film was released in the United States and Canada on November 16, 2007 and grossed $9.6 million in 3,164 theaters its opening weekend, ranking #5 at the box office. It went on to gross $32.1 million in the U.S. and a further $35.4 million in the rest of the world which gives the film a total of box office return of $67.5 million.

Critical response
As of July 12, 2008 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 37% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 124 reviews, with the consensus among negative critics that "colorful visuals and talented players can't make up for a bland story." On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 48 out of 100, based on 26 reviews. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone declared the film the year's Worst Family Film on his list of the Worst Movies of 2007.

However, in recognition of the fact that it was "aimed directly at very young children", William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer observed its "unforced and exceedingly gentle humor, its imaginative but never-quite-excessive production design and its ingratiating and surprisingly detailed performances – especially by Portman and Bateman – gradually break down one's cynical defenses".

Despite the negative reception, the film has won two awards: one is the Heartland Film Festival Truly Moving Pictures award and the Dove Foundation seal of approval. Dove also stated that the film was "a delightful family film". Also, Shawn Edwards of Fox replied it was "the most magical film of the year".

Writer-director Zach Helm later disowned the film and called it "a trainwreck", after the film was referenced on an episode of the AMC drama Breaking Bad.

Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on March 4, 2008 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Soundtrack

 * Don't Be Shy – Performed by Cat Stevens
 * Jennifer Juniper – Written by Donovan
 * Love the World You Find – Performed by The Flaming Lips
 * Everything’s Magic - Performed by Angels & Airwaves