Merry-go-round of magic can't save "Magorium"

In a season filled with depressing movies for adults, someone's finally thought to give equal time to the kids. This was not necessarily a good instinct. "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium," an inventive yet strangely grim fairy tale from Zach Helm ("Stranger Than Fiction"), introduces its young audience to the title character (Dustin Hoffman), a Willy Wonka-ish fellow who owns a magical toy store, dresses in lilac corduroy suits and speaks in a puckish lisp. The plot hook? Mr. Magorium is going to die. And then, after a while, he does.

There are a few other plot elements too: Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman, sporting a haircut only Audrey Hepburn could get away with), the store's manager, is a pianist who doesn't believe in herself; at 23, she feels life and opportunity have passed her by. Nine-year-old Eric (Zach Mills) is a kid with no friends who hangs around the store all the time, wearing funny hats. And Henry (Jason Bateman) is an accountant without even much of a subplot, poor fellow.

Helm, who demonstrated with "Stranger Than Fiction" that he's got imagination to burn, at times finds an appealing whimsy in this toy story. The store (actually a ramshackle house nestled between office buildings on a city street, with Mr. M's living quarters up a magical staircase) has a personality of its own; it sulks and fades when things aren't going well, and goes into dark mourning after its owner's demise. Likewise, the toys have unusual quirks: An unusually shy Slinky gets nervous about having to go down stairs, and has to be coaxed.

But Hoffman's performance dances on the thin line between eccentric and off-putting, and Portman's work is sweet but blank; Helm's screenplay doesn't give her much personality. And the movie's message — have faith in yourself, as Molly learns — feels tacked-on, as if Helm realized belatedly that kid movies don't fly without an inspirational lesson. Ultimately, "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" just isn't wondrous enough (or even wondrously weird enough) to justify its unappealing plot. Kids grow up fast enough; let's leave the depressing movies to the grown-ups for a while.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com