The story takes place in an everyday city, and focuses on a not-so-everyday toy store owned by Mr. Edward Magorium(Dustin Hoffman), a 243 year-old toymaker and self-proclaim-ed "avid shoe wearer". Magorium's been around so long, he once beat Abraham Lincoln in a game of hopscotch and has a signed letter from Thomas Edison thanking him for "the great idea". Magorium shares the emporium--where toys routinely come to life and bouncy-balls try to sneak out in customers' shopping bags--with his bubbly yet somewhat insecure store manager, Molly Mahoney(Natalie Portman). Molly is insecure because she was a child prodigy pianist, whose dreams have gone unfulfilled. She tries every day to compose a symphony, but just can't get the proper rhythm down. Oh, and there's also young Eric(Zach Mills), a nine year-old who spends every day in the escapist world of the store, because he's too shy to reach out and make friends on his own.

     Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is essentially a story about accepting change and finding the courage to believe not only in the magic which can exist every day around us, but also to believe in oneself. The main thrust of the story centers around these ideas, since Magorium himself has decided he has lived long enough and intends to die, while leaving the living, magical toy store in Molly's care.

     If that sounds somewhat somber, it is...the second act of the movie becomes quite serious, and several people(adults as well as children) were quite audibly sniffling once Magori-um passes away. It is during this second act, more than the first, that Natalie Portman comes more alive as an actress, although her character is grieving. Portman has never been one for comedic or light-hearted roles, in spite of her appear-ances in Mars Attacks! and the now-legendary Saturday Night Live skit where she rapped an uncharacteristically foul-mouthed message to the kids looking up to her. She is a massively intelligent young woman, and also doesn't seem quite comfortable in science fiction or fantasy-type roles unless they carry a deeper meaning(see: V for Vendetta). While Portman's performance in the first act--the one dealing more with the introduction of Magorium and his magical store

--seems stiff and somewhat forced, she immediately finds her center in the second act, once Molly is forced to begin coping with the weight of her newfound responsibilities.

     Not that Portman has the only problems selling the concept of the film. Writer/director Zach Helm, who makes his debut in both areas with this movie, obviously wanted to create a piece imbued with the essence of the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory(or Willy Wonka, if you prefer). It takes a solid cast to push such an obviously borrowed con-cept, and the assembled actors do their best, but Hoffman seems to go a bit too far out early on to sell the eccentricities of his character. Zach Mills as Eric is a very likeable child actor, but in spite of his numerous film and tv appearances, it's too early to call him a veteran. He mugs for the camera, and it's lain on a bit too thick. Jason Bateman(The Kingdom) as newly hired accountant Henry "the mutant"(so named by Magorium, who considers an accountant to be a cross between a counter and a mutant) is the only cast member to strike a perfect balance at all times and never wavers from his course. And while Helm's direction is fairly calm and assured(props on making his first project so heavily laced with CGI and puppetry gimmicks...two things which might vex even a seasoned director), when Molly decides to show Magorium a day of events demonstrating why life is worth living, the scenes feel tacked on in order to pad out the film.

     These problems are surmountable however, as Magori-um's is a film which somehow transcends the discordance between its individual parts to achieve an overall enjoyable trip into fantasyland. Magorium himself, in spite of Hoffman's bizarre lisp and other oddities, is a presentable character... and if Helm really wanted to make the desired connections to Willy Wonka more apparent, it would've been neat to include a cameo by the original, Gene Wilder himself. In spite of her initial stiffness in the role, one cannot help but root for Port-man's Molly to finally find the strength to believe in herself and complete her symphony. If there is any one thing more I might have wanted from this film, it would be to have given to us a bit more explanation of the connection between Molly and Magorium. Molly remarks at one point that she's known Magorium since she was two, and she has obviously worked at the store for a great deal of time, since she takes all the magical wonder about her in stride. But how did Magorium choose to reveal who he is to her? How did a loner like Eric come to be included in their little group? Questions like these abound, but there are few answers.

     Let me stop thinking like an adult for a minute. I did say after all, that this review was for the kids. And if you're a kid--or maybe even, an adult who can allow themselves a childlike whimsy now and again--you'll enjoy Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium at face value, and accept its magic on its own terms. Besides, a film can't be all bad if it's got a cameo by Kermit the Frog as himself.

    Sometimes there's nothing wrong with a little make-believe.