Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium product reviews

This is great kids movie... no bad language, no violence, nothing at all that could be considered a bad example to kids (except perhaps for lonely kids inviting strangers home to play while there are no adults around... tut-tut)... but does have a lot of good moral to pass on, like "Always believe in yourself, even when others won't" and "If you want the world to be magical, you have to make the magic happen"... ok, so perhaps this movie takes the 'metaphorical' and shows it as 'actual' but that's the key plot element, isn't it.

Dustin Hoffman pulls of yet another great performance... his facial expressions were perfect for the character, the speech patterns and slurs, he WAS Mr Magorium from the tip of his frizzy hair to the tips of his last pair of shoes.

Natalie Portman is obviously trying to find a new set of wings now that she has dropped her twin heirs, Luke and Leia, and left them to their fate in a galaxy far, far away... and I am very sorry to say she didn't pull off her best performance. She did really well throughout most of it, but dropped the ball big time in the last few minutes of the movie... she might be able to play the piano like a goddess, but she sure can't conduct and dance!

Jason Bateman also impressed me with how far he has come since I first saw him in "Little House on the Prairie" all those years ago... a mere 12 years old! I thought I would never be able to watch him again after seeing him in that decidedly pathetic series "Arrested Development", which obviously refers to the mental state of the scriptwriters. Thankfully, he does a great job of being the counting mutant... aka Accountant.

The special effects were great, to the point where my favourite character was actually a virtual... a kitset wooden dinosaur who loves to play with miniature hot air balloons. He was just so cute, like a demented skeletal puppy! My son adores this movie and has decided to make this the subject of his current round of school holiday viewing preference nagging. Always a sign of a winner.

Overall, not the best movie for adults, as it will wear thin rapidly, but the kids will probably be entranced by it for many hours of loop-play while you go out and get the household chores sorted out... or a rare bit of P&Q while the sun still makes itself known.