The Movie - A Bitter 'Take That'?

Does anyone else think that the first psrt of the movie reads like a take that plot?

To me it looked like a couple of renaissance fair folks (with their own 'mystic' personas) got tired of smark-aleks making fun/questioning them and made a movie.

Look at how Mr. Cooper ramps up the smarm, making fun of the whole premise of the shop and gets repaid in spades (damning his soul, really?!). When the boy being read the story comments on Merlin giving Cooper enough rope to hang himself with, the grandfather replies "well Cooper should never have threatened Merlin in the first place, its not wise to get on the bad side of a sorcerer!".

Doing terrible things to people and then excusing them with puported 'common sense'. What a message!
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Knew him? He was delicious!