Magic at Christmas

Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium -3.5/5



The follow up feature from Zac Helm - the screenwriter who brought us the delightful Stranger Than Fiction, and this time he takes on directing duties as well. It's simultaneously both highly original and containing many of the cliched staples of magical children's films.



The story follows Mr Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) - toy impressario and avid shoe-wearer, who at the tender age of 243 decides its time to move on and pass his magical toy shop on to his young assistant (Natalie Portman). On one level many of the plot elements are genre staples - the kid with no friends who feels at home in the store, the up-tight adult who doesn't believe (in this case an accountant played by Jason Bateman) and a central character (Portman) who just needs to learn to believe in herself. On another level there are huge amounts of invention that go into the shop - both in its look and its role in the story as a character.

Mr Magorium himself is also a wonderful invention, brilliantly played by Hoffman managing to avoid both being too twee or too creepy. Portman brings the quirky oddball charm that worked so well in Garden State and Bateman is a delight to watch. The film also touches some unusual places for kids film - covering both the change from childhood to adulthood and dealing with death and loss. As such it could be seen as an interesting but very different companion piece to Bridge to Terebithia, out earlier this year.

At times the makers get too carried away with their own inventiveness and plot strands and ideas are lost - the film starts with a bookmaker in the basement who seems to have walked in from an early Jean-Pierre Jeunet (whose inventiveness is a clear influence) movie, but the character is largely lost. The end of the second act flags a wee bit and, in contrast, the conclusion is rushed over. But these flaws not withstanding, its still a very entertaining film with nice original touches, some great fun characters and enough to keep audiences of all ages charmed and entertaining.

Higher profile is:

Enchanted - 3/5

Enchanted has a neat concept - a princess from a Disney-esque fairytale is cast into modern day New York, then various other characters follow to either save or kill her. The fairy-tale has been pretty well de-constructed over recent years by likes of Shrek, and this film (coming from Disney itself) was never going to rip into its favoured genre (although there are maybe one or two sly digs at Shrek itself in the early animated sections). This inevitably means that some of the comic potential that was there in the set up is lost - although there are still some nice moments - like when Giselle (the princess) calls for animals to come and help clean up the apartment and gets a mixture of rats, pigeons and cockroaches.

Instead what we have plays more like a greatest hits of Disney as Giselle more or less transforms our world into a magical fairytale land, albeit one with a few twists - the damsel ends up saving the day. Amy Adams does superbly as Giselle to make the Pollyanna character not only not irritating, but also fun and watchable. Grey's Anatomy's Patrick Dempsey is rather bland in the lead male role, but James Marsden (building on his role in Hairspray) is an absolute hoot as the brainless prince charming. Susan Sarandon is also wonderful, but criminally underused as the evil-stepmother.



This is still an entertaining watch, but will appeal mainly to younger viewers. The idea had more potential than is realised here, and the movie falls some way short of Mr Magorium or Stardust.