The toys and toy shop in Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium

“It’s a magical toy store, it can do all sorts of things,” boasts 243-year-old Mr Magorium (Dustin Hoffman), the proud owner of his self-named Wonder Emporium in the family fantasy, Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. And when he says magical he sure means it. Inside the fantastical four walls of the cavernous toy store (the set had 30-foot high ceilings and occupied two-levels and 7,100 square feet), an eclectic mix of modern hi-tech gadgets mingle with nostalgic classics, each competing for the attentions of excited youngsters and all imbued with a fairytale charm.

Though a majority of the 10,000 strong army of innocent delights barely feature on film, it was essential that each of these toys stayed true to the dreamlike sense of mischief and fun of the Emporium and in turn, contributed to the store’s special appeal. The entire ambience of the shop would have been compromised if only those enjoying centre stage were remarkable and quirky, and those hidden nearer the shadows were dull or commonplace.

Responsible for ensuring that every toy was worthy was set decorator Clive Thomasson, whose past credits include horror Dark Water. Scouring the globe, Thomason worked with his crew of prop masters, buyers and set dressers to stack the store’s very special shelves. “We wound up with toys from all over the world, including France, Germany and England,” he recalled.

“It’s not Toys-R-Us nor is it an antique store. Zach [Helm – the film’s writer/ director] had very specific ideas of what combination of toys he wanted – so you’ll see ultra-modern, 21st-century toys right next to antique European music boxes or vintage Radio Flyer wagons or a barrel of Lincoln Logs. A lot of effort went into reflecting Mr. Magorium’s personality through each and every one of the toy displays.”

Expressing the magical quality of the Emporium, each of the toys are alive with an energetic sense of anarchy that leads bouncing balls to explode and nautical books to splash water in the reader’s face. Like the popular DisneyּPixar films Toy Story and Toy Story 2, this enchantment taps into the long-held child’s fantasy of toys coming to life and means that nothing is typical, predictable or expected. When one woman argues the $50 price tag of a fish-themed mobile, Mr. Magorium points to the alive and squirming fish, noting that they are indeed “fresh”.

One real-life toy that enjoys the film’s imaginative limelight is the humble yo-yo. Brought into the fold to show off a dazzling array of yo-yo tricks was contortionist and fire-eater Aidan Koper who with his Mini Motu Yo-Yo by Yo-Yo Jam combined freestyle moves and long-established string tricks to visually delight. Asked on the enduring appeal of the yo-yo, Koper enthused: “Because they’re portable – you can put one in your pocket and whenever you’re bored, you’ve instantly got something fun. In the last ten years, new technology has made yo-yos a lot more versatile and you can really do a great variety of cool tricks.”

Despite earning his cinematic debut in the role of Brett, the yo-yo guy, Koper was most overwhelmed by the toy store set, created by designer Thérèse DePrez. “I’d never seen anything like it and you could spend days just looking at all the toys,” he noted. The film’s writer/ director Zach Helm was equally impressed with DePrez’s artistic contribution. “She brought in voluminous amounts of images and ideas to draw from and we talked back and forth about what toys reminded us of our childhoods,” explains Helm, who originally wrote the film’s screenplay under contract for 20th Century Fox, only to buy it back himself years later.

DePrez also speaks highly of her director, reflecting the pair’s shared sense of how the toy store should look. “We both agreed that the store should have a combination of realism, surrealism and nostalgia built into it,” she says. “The Emporium represents the magic that happens in everyday life. One thing Zach said to me very early on was that he wanted any child who saw this movie to believe that this store existed somewhere. So it needed to be grounded in a kind of history and mythology.”

Inspiration for the store’s look came from a variety of sources, from European Art Noveau architecture to the Victorian buildings in San Francisco via the dazzling colours of the original Barnum and Bailey circus. “A lot of the colours hark back to The Greatest Show on Earth,” notes DePrez. “It’s a rich colour palette that also gives the store a real sense of place in history.”

However, it is not the film’s director, set designer or decorator that can best assess the childlike appeal of the store but the ankle-biting members of the cast. Remembering when the youngsters first set eyes on the Emporium, DePrez says: “It was so exciting for me to watch these very small kids walk into this cavernous space… and see their eyes light up and bulge out with wonderment. It was remarkable. Even adults couldn’t help but stare in amazement, and you could almost see the nostalgia in their faces. That’s when we knew we had created a pretty special place.”