Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

I have seen a couple of movies since Mother fell, and Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium was one of them. The Elder Son gave the dvd to me, and he made a good choice. I found it delightful. Of course, given the horrible reviews, my experience may have been colored by the fact that I was in my Mother's hospital room and _any_thing would have seemed cheery. It stars Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman.

trailer:


The poor film only gets 37% at Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert gave it 3 stars and concludes, "This isn't quite the over-the-top fantasy you'd like it to be, but it's a charming enough little movie, and probably the younger you are, the more charming." EW gives it an "F" and has nothing positive to say. Time Out calls it a "no more than a dull, whimsical, superficial film". DVD Talk doesn't like it either, saying it's "90 minutes of forced whimsy that never quite gets off the ground." Slant Magazine says, "the film stagnates more often than it flourishes".