The Spiderwich Chronicles

After being uprooted from their home Jared Grace (Freddie Highmore) and his family move into an old mansion left to them by their strange Aunt. Jared starts to investigate weird sounds and rooms in the old mansion and comes across a strange book that once opened unleashes a whole world of magical creatures. Some of the creatures are friendly and some are not, but the Grace family must work together to keep the evil Ogre from getting his hands on the book and all of its secrets. A very cute movie and Highmore is always a joy to watch.

The Golden Compass

This story is based on the book about an alternate universe where humans' souls live outside their body and are called daemons. These daemons take on an animal form and if they are injured the human feels it as well. This film is about a young girl who is the only one who can read a magical golden compass and ventures off on an expedition to find some missing children. Along the way she plans to help her uncle who is trying to find information about a mysterious substance called dust that is supposed to be able to connect the various universes. For me this film was a little confusing and would have to be watched a few times to get all the details straight. It leaves the ending wide open so you know there will be a sequel coming.

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Dustin Hoffman plays Mr. Magorium who owns a "magical" toy store where anything is possible. Natalie Portman plays his store manager who he surprises one day by giving her the store. She begins to doubt her ability to keep the magic going and in doing so causes the magic to begin to fade. She has to continue to believe in the store and herself to keep the magic alive. I think it was an okay movie, but not really as good as I thought it was going to be.