Some movies aimed at kids are just so stupid, and I don’t just mean this from an adult’s point of view but I think that they literally make our kids dumber. This need not necessarily be the case, for there are several examples of family entertainment being accessible and satisfying for all age levels, even though it’s directed at a younger audience specifically. Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium is an example of this and even though it was released some time ago now, I still feel it was one of the best family films of the year. It got pretty beat up in the reviews and IMDB rates it only a 6.2 out of 10, which is pretty brutal considering that I absolutely loved it.

Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) is a 243-year-old toy manufacturing entrepreneur who sells his creations in a New York toy store. Mr. Magorium after a life of mirth-making and avid shoe wearing is reaching the end of his life and is putting his affairs in order. He hires Henry Weston (Jason Bateman), an account he nicknames “Mutant” on the assumption that the route of the word “account” is “a counting mutant”, to put the stores financial books in order. Mr. Magorium’s intention is to leave the store to his employee Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman), who’s unsure about inheriting a magical toy store, especially when she’s trying to get back to her first love: music.

This movie is about simple delights and simple charm. It’s a story about characters trying to find something with a moral of self-realization. It can get kind of dark, but dark need not necessarily be all bad. As we saw earlier this year with The Bridge to Terabithia, there are valuable lessons in the dark, not that Mr. Magorium is like something out of Frank Miller though. It’s just that in the midst of all the silliness in the trailer, you would never guess that there’s a semi-serious message about life, death and finding the things that make you happy while you’re in between.

Leading the way in a wonderfully weird performance is Dustin Hoffman. Now a guy like Hoffman in a part like this could easily rest on his laurels, but he’s friendly, heart-warming and just goofy enough to evade any claims of normality without any kind of creepiness. Portman is adorable as Mahoney and is the heart and soul of the movie; she plays well against Bateman who, as The Mutant, plays the straight man in the midst of all the zaniness. Rounding out the cast is Zach Mills as Eric, a lonely little boy that shows wisdom beyond his years. He’s also the narrator of the movie, delivering lines with the gentle, matter-of-fact manner of any kid telling a really interesting story.

I did actually have a problem with the final act as it just seemed that the magic in the film kind of slowly drained out of it on until the very end. The story seemed to stop at something of an abrupt note and doesn’t even offer a glimpse as to what happens after the credits role. A movie like this needs closure and something to give us more than the presumption that everyone lived happily ever after, we have to see it. I also have concern that in our cynical age the movie might be too earnest for people, but that’s there problem not the filmmakers’. Reading some message boards about this movie it disappoints me that whimsy seems to be such a disposable commodity in the world today.

But in the end I think that Mr. Magorium has a solid message that anyone can get something out of: “Life is an occasion, rise to it.” The material is beautifully handled and writer/director Zach Helm has a gifted touch for the handling of such fantastical material. I hope that when this movie comes out on DVD that the people will discover this and hail it with the praise it deserves: a true family classic with a timeless quality and a timeless message.