So we took the kids to see this terminally (no pun intended) sentimental flick yesterday. I was expecting a crowd being school holidays and all but the movies were virtually deserted, we almost had the theatre to ourselves. Given we took seven kids ranging in age from 5 to 10 years old, this was a useful cross-section of the intended audience.
This is a family flick so for those of you seeking solace from "school holiday boredom hell", the kids' opinions are most important. Good news they sat through it. There was some restlessness during the (perhaps unnecessarily) long dialogues, but otherwise the general consensus was that they "liked it but it was sad when he died". I am not giving away any secrets here, virtually the first thing you find out in the story is that Mr. Magorium is about to cark it. It goes like this; there's a fantastical looking toy shop in a big city wedged between two modern office blocks. It's filled with magical toys and the shop itself is "alive". Enter Hollywood logic-bypass number 3: you only see the magic if you believe. Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) is the owner, proprietor and "dad" of the store. He is also over 200 years old and dying - something he is taking remarkably well. We never find out why he is dying, but it seems he can select the time and date himself. Magorium is preparing to hand the store over to Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman),a 23 year-old girl who runs the store, believes in the magic but doubts herself. For the purpose of bequeathing his estate Magorium hires an accountant (Jason Bateman) who is given an amusing nickname that I shall adopt immediately and for the rest of my life when referring to accountants. The accountant of course does not believe and thus does not see the magic in the store. There's an endearing but misfit kid who can't make friends and is in need of a father figure. The plot progresses exactly as you would expect, up to and including the inevitable sickly-sweet ending. The actors did their best with what they were presented with, although I found the Magorium character awkward. An earlier, darker movie about Magorium in the 18th century would be worth watching.
Most Mums, Grandmums and suitably inclined kids will probably enjoy it. I didn't hear them talking much about it afterward, there was no "did you like the bit when...?" in the car, but they sat through it and paid attention.
I had a couple of problems with the movie. Yes it was over-the-top sentimental, but that's OK, it's what I expected.
Problem 1: I didn't actually believe the film-makers believed in what they were doing. It felt like a sentimental movie made by people who weren't actually sentimental themselves, but thought they knew what sentimental people might want. In "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", "Mary Poppins" and various Disneys of that ilk - I could at least believe that the filmmakers really believed in a world that could be magical and truly positive all the time. In MMWE, it felt like the producers (of which there were a ludicrous number) may give up the pretence at any point and have the entire store destroyed by alien machines in a blood-bath. Actually that would have been great - Portman could have revived her Star Wars character, pulled out a light-saber and gone to battle. I digress.
Problem 2: This is a biggie for me and more reflective of McHollywood kids' culture than the movie itself. MMWE was very presumptuous. The movie expected you to love Mr Magorium, The Store, The Toys and Molly from the word go. It didn't even attempt to earn this admiration. The whole thing was slapped on the table in the first five minutes and from that point onwards assumed you were hooked. Willie Wonka, Winnie-the-Pooh, Peter Rabbit, Peter Pan - all these characters had to work hard to earn your admiration. This required imagination, introduction, "seduction", convincing. For me this movie was the epitome of Hollywood commercialisation of children's affections. It assumed children will love anything that is made for them. No wonder children are confused about what love means. My children have not seen "Alvin and the Chipmunks" yet, but they already know the characters names and have eaten the Happy Meal. I hate this stuff. Now I can hear the protests at this comparison already, because MMWE tries very hard not to be like these "product" movies. I don't see any MMWE merchandise anywhere and the film was very light on product placement (although rumours that it is without product placement are incorrect - there's a completely unnecessary and out-of-place iPod in the first 5 minutes and a Matchbox Car stand later on). Maybe the filmmakers made the mistaken assumption that by decommercialising the movie, children would have to love the characters. But it takes more than that to win a child's love and memory. I just asked my seven year-old if he thought much about the movie or remembered it. "Nah".
Redeeming features? There was one. If you have a child that is being forced through circumstance to confront the death of an older relative or friend right now then the movie has a very useful, positive and encouraging (though carefully non-religious) message about death. That even seemed to be one of the movies objectives. If I had to find a movie to start younger kids discussing death, I would consider this.
Overall, this will probably shut your kids up for 90 minutes and appeal to you if you are die-hard sentimentalist. Don't ask more of Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium than that.
This is a family flick so for those of you seeking solace from "school holiday boredom hell", the kids' opinions are most important. Good news they sat through it. There was some restlessness during the (perhaps unnecessarily) long dialogues, but otherwise the general consensus was that they "liked it but it was sad when he died". I am not giving away any secrets here, virtually the first thing you find out in the story is that Mr. Magorium is about to cark it. It goes like this; there's a fantastical looking toy shop in a big city wedged between two modern office blocks. It's filled with magical toys and the shop itself is "alive". Enter Hollywood logic-bypass number 3: you only see the magic if you believe. Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) is the owner, proprietor and "dad" of the store. He is also over 200 years old and dying - something he is taking remarkably well. We never find out why he is dying, but it seems he can select the time and date himself. Magorium is preparing to hand the store over to Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman),a 23 year-old girl who runs the store, believes in the magic but doubts herself. For the purpose of bequeathing his estate Magorium hires an accountant (Jason Bateman) who is given an amusing nickname that I shall adopt immediately and for the rest of my life when referring to accountants. The accountant of course does not believe and thus does not see the magic in the store. There's an endearing but misfit kid who can't make friends and is in need of a father figure. The plot progresses exactly as you would expect, up to and including the inevitable sickly-sweet ending. The actors did their best with what they were presented with, although I found the Magorium character awkward. An earlier, darker movie about Magorium in the 18th century would be worth watching.
Most Mums, Grandmums and suitably inclined kids will probably enjoy it. I didn't hear them talking much about it afterward, there was no "did you like the bit when...?" in the car, but they sat through it and paid attention.
I had a couple of problems with the movie. Yes it was over-the-top sentimental, but that's OK, it's what I expected.
Problem 1: I didn't actually believe the film-makers believed in what they were doing. It felt like a sentimental movie made by people who weren't actually sentimental themselves, but thought they knew what sentimental people might want. In "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", "Mary Poppins" and various Disneys of that ilk - I could at least believe that the filmmakers really believed in a world that could be magical and truly positive all the time. In MMWE, it felt like the producers (of which there were a ludicrous number) may give up the pretence at any point and have the entire store destroyed by alien machines in a blood-bath. Actually that would have been great - Portman could have revived her Star Wars character, pulled out a light-saber and gone to battle. I digress.
Problem 2: This is a biggie for me and more reflective of McHollywood kids' culture than the movie itself. MMWE was very presumptuous. The movie expected you to love Mr Magorium, The Store, The Toys and Molly from the word go. It didn't even attempt to earn this admiration. The whole thing was slapped on the table in the first five minutes and from that point onwards assumed you were hooked. Willie Wonka, Winnie-the-Pooh, Peter Rabbit, Peter Pan - all these characters had to work hard to earn your admiration. This required imagination, introduction, "seduction", convincing. For me this movie was the epitome of Hollywood commercialisation of children's affections. It assumed children will love anything that is made for them. No wonder children are confused about what love means. My children have not seen "Alvin and the Chipmunks" yet, but they already know the characters names and have eaten the Happy Meal. I hate this stuff. Now I can hear the protests at this comparison already, because MMWE tries very hard not to be like these "product" movies. I don't see any MMWE merchandise anywhere and the film was very light on product placement (although rumours that it is without product placement are incorrect - there's a completely unnecessary and out-of-place iPod in the first 5 minutes and a Matchbox Car stand later on). Maybe the filmmakers made the mistaken assumption that by decommercialising the movie, children would have to love the characters. But it takes more than that to win a child's love and memory. I just asked my seven year-old if he thought much about the movie or remembered it. "Nah".
Redeeming features? There was one. If you have a child that is being forced through circumstance to confront the death of an older relative or friend right now then the movie has a very useful, positive and encouraging (though carefully non-religious) message about death. That even seemed to be one of the movies objectives. If I had to find a movie to start younger kids discussing death, I would consider this.
Overall, this will probably shut your kids up for 90 minutes and appeal to you if you are die-hard sentimentalist. Don't ask more of Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium than that.