MovieChat Forums > Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007) Discussion > What's the point of this amazingly suger...

What's the point of this amazingly sugercoated movie?

posted 14 years ago by HollowScar
8 replies | jump to latest

Hi!

I hope the title does not mislead, but I don't get the point of this movie. Sure, we have to hold on to our dreams, and to believe in ourselves, but aren't there better movies which are more realistic, to convey the message?

What's wrong with being a "just" person, if that is what you observe. The movie takes a working man, and stereotypes him into a boring character with no play time.

I like Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Bateman, for their different reasons, and from different work fields. They are people I am familiar with, and made me watch the movie to the end. However, I wonder if movies like these give the wrong message. Not everybody gets their dreams fulfilled, and not everybody is expected to be in fantasy realms.

Eric is a good example, who apparently does not have friends. He should be involved, and appreciate the reality around him, rather than embracing a fantasy.

[–] corey_246 14 years ago

I think this movie is meant to be precived differently by each person.

For me I took it that just because your a grown up doesn't mean you should lose touch with the child in you, you need to dream and believe in the impossible, see things beyond what they are in text-book terms (a tree being more than a tree, or a store being more than a store). You need to connect with that part of you that makes you feel free and that anything is possible if you believe in it and have faith in something more than just the physcial.

It's to make you want your dreams fulfilled. The phrase "it's better to love and lost than to have never loved at all" comes to mind. It's better to dream, wish and believe in something more,that anything can happen instead of giving up and saying, "Not everybody gets their dreams fulfilled, and not everybody is expected to be in fantasy realms.".

The film uses children because kids are the purest forms of us. They have their whole lives ahead of them and believeanything cna happen in them, they are excited for the jounrey (not weighed down with work etc. that gets in the way of us adults dreaming, they aren't "just people". They can amke anything happen in their minds, they can be whatever they want.

To me Eric is a metephor for what Henry lost. His youth, his ability to dream. He got lost in the concrete life of paper-work (repition) and he forgot that there is more to himself and life, and that comes out thanks to Eric (when they play with the hats).

I find two messages in this film: for the kids: never stop dreaming or believeing in the impossible. for adults: learn from kids, don't lose that "sparkle" in your life. You need to let go and connect with that park of you that really thinks anything is possible.

I don't even think the film is about keeping youthful, it's just keeping the ability to dream and see life as something more. To abandon that ability, that's just not a life, it's just exsisting not living.

I'm 20 and this is one of my favorite films to be honest, I'm pretty passionate about the message in it. I have parents who expect me to grow up, get my degree, get a job, settle down and get married. I want to see the world, see that there is more out there, believe in something more. Some people lose touch with that, they never take the time to look past what is the physcial around them before it's too late.

[–] HollowScar 14 years ago

Well, I liked this movie, as it was lighthearted, but at the same time, it was not practical. In today's world, we don't expect to live an imaginary life. Even though we have dream, and inspirations, we make goals, and go in that direction.

The movie does feel positive, but in the end, we grow up, and learn to face reality. As for having loved, and lost, I think not having it at all is also okay. One can learn to be happy by themselves.

As for Henry, he was heavily stereotyped. In today's world, people work, but they also have fun, whether it be drinking, watching hockey, etc. etc. The movie painted a black, and white picture of life, when life itself is too complex.

I am also nearing 20, and my parents want me to get a job, and do something for myself too. However, my happiness does not have to rely on materialism, or toys. We eventually get bored, and want something else in life. Instead, a lot of people out there are looking for Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, and do not have one. Eric had somewhere to go to, but we have to face reality, cause there is no magic. In the end, it's only natural.

[–] Lily-32 13 years ago

It wasn't meant to be practical. Kids don't think in practical and sometimes we adults think too much that way. And yes, it can be too much.

Reality doesn't mean giving up hope. Knowing reality and always hoping and striving for better is the human struggle. Yes, people can find happiness where they are, but if they haven't experienced it then they're missing out. Ignorance is only bliss because it knows nothing else, and yet at the same time I believe we all feel that something inside that tells us there is more and we're missing it.

Children think in black and white. This was from a childlike perspective directed mainly at children.

I mean no disrespect or condescension when I say this, but, you're nearing 20? You're still young. You'll learn.

[–] HollowScar 13 years ago

Thank you Lily. In a way I can see the point of having delusions in life as hopes. There are many religions and New Age beliefs too which can actually reduce stress even though they may not be real. However, this movie took that "magical mysticism" effect, and made it real thus giving the "just person" a run for his money. I think there are better movies which have morals to them, but this one left me bewildered. Maybe, I am looking too deep into it!

[–] davie4u 12 years ago

I reject your reality, and substitute my own.

[–] sharon-17 12 years ago

It's super special, because a bunch of Hollywood , self indulgent ego maniacs say so. Yuck.

[–] Bruno-Diaz 9 years ago

Some things need sugar-coating so that certain audiences will learn them, in this case kids, but within this film it was an adult that needed to learn. Magorium dies and does just that, dies. Like the 'King Lear' stage direction, he simply dies. But he told us and Mahoney before dying that it is o that he's dying because that is what must happen.
So kids are seeing a film in which the eponymous hero dies and we want them to accept this, so it has to be sugar-coated. If I ever go to a kids film and the main character has cancer and we see them lose their colour, their hair and they started coughing up a lung, throwing up until they hurt and them cursing the world for making this happen, I'm going to wonder what the hell is wrong with the filmmakers!
Now, I've focused on the death while you focused on the fantasy, and that's part of the good thing about this film. Not only does it have different interpretations depending on the viewer but it also has different subjects to focus on depending on that viewer too. So whilst kids are enjoying the fantasy elements of this film, the ideas of living in the now and not doing anything you'll regret later and to simply live before you die are being presented to them with completely smashing them in the head with them.
If Eric would rather embrace fantasy than live in the boring reality, why is that a bad thing? If he doesn't have any true friends but this world makes him happy then why is that a bad thing? Who knows what him embracing the fantasy will lead him into doing? He could become a world class artist based on the things he has seen in the store so him living a reality without friends and without fantasy is holding him back from that. You could say that because Mahoney accepted the fantasy as her reality that that actually held her back from her music, but her realisation of that set her free again.
So maybe there's another message there of how much fantasy is too much fantasy and in Henry's case, how much reality is too much reality.
I'm rambling now so I'm going to stop.

(He posts)

"God, when I meet you, I'm gonna be pretty. If it's the last thing I do. I'll be a beautiful angel."

[–] giygas-12533 8 years ago

This was a good movie. A saying of mine that I often employ and always rings true is "people with no imagination don't appreciate imagination."

I completely agree with the film's messages and I appreciate many things about it, but I also agree that the film's focus was off. Looking at it objectvely, it has some clear flaws. Great ideas, but not executed that well on screen. It happens.