Review – Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium

This picture ping-pongs back and forth between self-consciously precious and uncomfortably depressing. Dustin Hoffman (when’s the last time this guy wasn’t annoying?) stars as the enigmatic owner of a magical toy store. After he forms an intent to die a cutesy death, he preps his assistant (Natalie Portman) to take over the joint. The movie’s relentless embrace-your-inner-child theme has been done to much better effect in other pictures. To be sure, this has a moment or two of visual entertainment. But after an hour and a half of this sort of thing, it’s less like eating a nice piece of pie and more like having a pie rubbed in your face. See if desperate