Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
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| Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster |
|
| Directed by | Zach Helm |
| Produced by | Joseph Drake |
| Written by | Zach Helm |
| Starring | Dustin Hoffman Natalie Portman Jason Bateman Zach Mills |
| Music by | Alexandre Desplat Aaron Zigman |
| Cinematography | Roman Osin |
| Editing by | Sabrina Pilsco |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox Walden Media |
| Release date(s) | November 16, 2007 |
| Running time | 94 min.[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is a 2007 film written and directed by Zach Helm. The film stars Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman and Zach Mills. The screenplay is the first that Zach Helm wrote when hired as a contract writer at 20th Century Fox, but it remained unfilmed until Helm was able to buy the script back after Stranger than Fiction was made. [2]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film is set in 2007 A.D., as indicated by a gravestone. At the start of the movie and at intervals thereafter, the 9-year-old boy Eric (Zach Mills) is shown telling the story through a book whose pages appear on screen.
Eccentric, 243-year-old Mr. Edward Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) owns and manages a magical toyshop. The shop has many quirks, including animated toys, a ledger that can bring to the purchase counter any toy on command, and a doorknob that, when rotated, changes the interior of a magic room. This room variously contains Mr. Magorium's apartment; a room full of constantly bouncing balls of various sizes; and other divisions of toyshop. All of the toys are magical in one way or another; their magic and behavior, however, appear to depend on those of the store, which is itself intelligent and changes its appearance and actions according to its emotions. Magorium's assistant is the young woman Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman), who is an aspiring pianist, has plans to quit the store and start a career in music composition, and is, unexplainedly, always addressed by her surname. Mahoney is Eric's only human friend, as shown by their first on-screen conversation, and is cherished in a paternal fashion by Mr. Magorium himself. Mr. Magorium's biographer and tenant is a strongman-like figure called Bellini, who lives in the shop's basement, runs errands for his employer, and sleeps with a doll. This doll, in addition to Bellini's task as Mr. Magorium's biographer, suggest the "soft" aspects of his personality that underlie his forbidding demeanor.
Unexpectedly, Mr. Magorium announces that although he is not ill, he intends to "leave" — that is, to die — and gives the shop to Mahoney in his will. Prior to this, he has given her an undecorated cube made of wood and the task of finding a use for it. This cube becomes instrumental in Mahoney's coming of age.
As a preparation for his "departure," Magorium hires accountant Henry Weston (Jason Bateman), giving him an interview wherein the latter demonstrates knowledge of Fibonacci numbers. Henry, nicknamed the "Mutant" as a play on his job's title of "accountant" (playfully misinterpreted as a portmanteau of "mutant" and "counter"), wins Mr. Magorium's approval when he demonstrates this knowledge on command and states as a reply to a question "anything can happen". His task is to organize the shop's long-neglected paperwork, which contains numerous financial difficulties whose effects have evidently never harmed Mr. Magorium or his business in addition to records of transactions with historical figures such as Thomas Alva Edison. Weston is not popular with the children who continuously visit and play in the shop; later, when Eric tries to become friends with him, Henry declines to play checkers on grounds that he "never [stops] working". Mahoney already has a low opinion of Weston, because he is skeptical of the shop's magic.
In response to its founder's decision to die, the shop sulks and on the following day throws a tantrum wherein its walls turn grey, the toys and books sold in it begin behaving erratically, and the ledger produces a Ring-Tailed Lemur when Mahoney requests a lollipop from it. The erratic behavior of the toys and books frightens the customers out of the shop. Mr. Magorium then calls a meeting of himself, Mahoney, Weston, Eric, and some of the toys to explain the situation at hand. Worried by Mr. Magorium's plan to "leave," Mahoney rushes him to the hospital, where doctors decide that Mr. Magorium should be kept when he has explained his age and occupation. Here, Mahoney uses the doctors' skepticism of magic to convince them that Mr. Magorium is suffering from delusions as a result of imminent death. He remains in the hospital overnight, surrounded by a backdrop of stars organized by Eric, and is released on the next day on grounds that nothing is physically wrong with him.
Meanwhile, Eric befriends the Mutant and introduces him to an extensive collection of diverse hats kept by Eric himself. The two play with these hats until interrupted by Eric's discomforted mother, who had not expected Eric to befriend anyone of Henry's age.
Mahoney attempts to prevent Mr. Magorium's departure by showing him life's joys, but he does not decide against "leaving." After a heartfelt, affectionate conversation, Mahoney leaves in tears, whereinafter Mr. Magorium throws his will in the form of a paper airplane, peacefully dying as the airplane flies around the room, temporarily changing the surroundings to match the image of a star field. Many children and adults crowd the cemetery to witness his funeral, which is held on the next day. Strangely, his agnomen of Edward does not appear on the headstone of his grave. The store reacts to Mr. Magorium's death by darkening itself and refusing to show any magic.
Mahoney, believing herself to be unworthy of the store, offers it for sale. Eric, desiring to see the Emporium continue as it has, approaches Weston with a "business proposal" wherein Eric is willing to invest his savings and pocket-money in the shop. Though he refuses, Weston agrees to persuade Mahoney against selling the store. He is caused to believe in the store's magic when Mahoney, by talking passionately of her faith therein, causes the wooden cube she was given to move as if alive. Influenced by further urging, the cube moves with increasing speed and confidence, eventually flying around the shop and halting in front of Henry, who faints from sheer astonishment.
When he wakes, the cube has vanished, and Mahoney appears unaware that it or any of the events caused by it exist. Henry, who is now a firm believer in the store's magic, leads Mahoney to realize that she is able to revive the store's magic by magic of her own. The shop is delighted and colourfully revived as Mahoney finally takes her position as owner and unlocks her creative potential, unleashing a celebration of the shop's wonders. It is implied that Mahoney has completed her first musical composition. The song featured here is "Everything's Magic" by Angels and Airwaves.
[edit] Cast
| Actor/Actress | Character |
|---|---|
| Dustin Hoffman | Mr. Edward Magorium, the 243-year-old owner of the store |
| Natalie Portman | Molly Mahoney, Store Manager and Owner |
| Jason Bateman | Henry "Mutant" Weston, the Accountant |
| Zach Mills | Eric, the Hat Collector |
| Ted Ludzik | Bellini, the Bookbuilder |
[edit] Production
Filming started in late March 2006 and continued to June 6, 2006 in Toronto.
The movie, produced by Walden Media and Mandate Pictures, was released in theaters in the United States on November 16, 2007. The film is released by 20th Century Fox and Walden Media through their Fox-Walden banner.
On September 5, 2007, ComingSoon! announced that this film was rated G by the MPAA. It was 20th Century Fox's third theatrically-released film to be rated G by the MPAA following Anastasia and Everyone's Hero.
This marked the first major theatrical appearance of Kermit the Frog since 1999's Muppets from Space.
[edit] Leicester Square Premiere
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 UK-based charities.
[edit] Novelization
[edit] Critical reception
The film received negative to mixed reviews from critics. As of December 16, 2007 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 35% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 109 reviews, with the consensus among negative critics that "colorful visuals and talented players can't make up for a bland story."[3] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 48 out of 100, based on 25 reviews.[4] Peter Travers (of Rolling Stone) declared the film the year's Worst Family Film on his list of the Worst Movies of 2007.[5] 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."[6] Roger Ebert described it as “a charming enough little movie, and probably the younger you are, the more charming.”[7]
[edit] Box office performance
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.[8] As of March 2, 2008, it had grossed $32,050,416 in the USA and a further $32,756,428 in the rest of the world which gives the film a total of box office return of $64,806,844
[edit] DVD and Blu-Ray release
The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray Disc on March 4, 2008.
[edit] See Also
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
[edit] References
- ^ Search for a Film Classification
- ^ » Mr. Magorium’s Zach Helm
- ^ Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium - Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-11-21.
- ^ Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2007-11-21.
- ^ Travers, Peter, (December 19, 2007) "Peter Travers' Best and Worst Movies of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-20
- ^ Arnold, William (2007-11-15). Gentle whimsy of 'Emporium' will appeal to children -- and win over their parents. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
- ^ :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (xhtml)
- ^ Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007) - Weekend Box Office Results. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-11-21.
