Delayed Reaction: Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

The Pitch: Like Toys, but good.

A young woman takes over a magical toy store handed down to her by its eccentric owner.

I don't always feel the need to explain myself for what movies I decide to see. Most of the really inexplicable choices are Club 50* picks. A few are completely indefensible and I regret immediately. Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium I have a little history with. First of all, it's Zach Helm's only other major screen credit other than Stranger Than Fiction. I was compelled to check it out eventually to see if Stranger Than Fiction was a fluke. I also remember working at Target when this movie was released. They had a big push of toys inspired by the movie. That was the saddest toy aisle I've ever seen. No one bought those toys. They couldn't clearance those items enough to convince people to buy a Rubix cube in funny packaging or repackaged slinky. I specifically remember a group of the sock monkeys sitting on a clearance shelf for a depressingly long amount of time. And, of course, the gag about the movie from the "Granite State" episode of Breaking Bad sealed the deal to decide that I needed to track it down. I would've seen it earlier too except it was next up in my Netflix queue with a "Very Long Wait" for over a year. I'd given up hope entirely.

*Fun fact: I hated the name "Club 50" when I first came up with it and I like it even less now. I've been calling it that for so long though, that I can't imagine ever changing it.

Spoiler alert! It wasn't worth the wait. Sure, Natalie Portman is charming, still growing back her hair after V for Vendetta. Jason Bateman had a surprisingly sweet role. I kind of like that the structure was a little different than I'd expect, and there's a charming innocence to the whole thing. I'm not sure what to do with Dustin Hoffman's performance though. Has there ever been a case of giving a character a lisp that didn't come off as at least a little insulting? While I appreciate that the story is paced a little differently, the chosen pace didn't work. The stakes were always low or not clear (It turns out that when the store dies, it can be brought back to life pretty easily). I couldn't figure out if this store was supposed to exist in the real world or not. Some people seemed to accept the magic, while others were baffled by it. This is very targeted to young children, not all ages. I don't want to belabor what's wrong with the movie too much, because it's not egregious enough to bother. Nothing offended my sensibilities too much, and that's all I can ask for sometimes.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend