In an age of belt tightening, Dustin Hoffman's hair in "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" looks like the result of a budget cutback on makeup and costumes. It's as if the actor took his normally thatchy coif, poured about half a bottle of mousse onto it, mussed it up with his fingers until he looked like Arthur Rubinstein with bedhead, and voila! — instant wacky toy-shop owner!

The characterization is every bit as cheap. Mr. Magorium, who is 243 years old (so are his jokes), is a cross between Willy Wonka and Geppetto, but Hoffman plays him with little more than a goofy dumb lisp, achieved by tucking his lower lip under his upper teeth, so that he looks just as rabbity-stoopid as he sounds.

–Excerpted from Entertainment Weekly's less than stellar review of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium [EW via CNN]