You’ve got to believe it to see it!

I went to watch the movie ‘Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium’ on Christmas Day.  Although I felt that the movie lacked adequate action to make it more exciting for both adults and kids, the concept of the magical toy store was really good.  Most importantly the movie dealt with a very crucial lesson in life, that is, to believe in ourselves in whatever we do. 

In the movie, Mr Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) is a magical being who owns and runs a magical toy store in our mortal world city, with the assistance of his mortal store manager, Molly (Natalie Portman).  As a child, Molly was told by everyone that she was a prodigy at playing the piano.  For some reason as she grew up, she became unsure of her musical gift and even doubted her talent.  She felt stuck in her life and told Mr Magorium that she wanted to quit her job at the toy store to move on in life. 

Her boss then made preparations to pass on the store to her.  Hence he hired a ‘just man’ accountant (Jason Bateman) to audit his accounts as part of the handover.  This guy was the type of person who had ‘abandoned’ his childhood memories and imaginations because he was now a grown up and that he should only think and talk about his job (accounting and tax laws etc. ) and other mature non-imaginative topics.  The magical store had not been audited for a few centuries and naturally the accountant was appalled.  Neverthless, he diligently set all the accounts and records in order.  As he did not believe in magic and he worked in the store office, he always missed all the scenes of the toys coming to life in the store.

Molly could see the toys come to life, and so can her store assistant (a little anti-social boy), as well as all the kids who visit the store to play with the toys.  Somehow the adults who visit the store do not seem to sense anything amiss with the toys that ‘come to life’.

Before he ‘left’, Mr Magorium left a large wooden cube to Molly.  The wooden cube was supposed to hold the answers to her being stuck in life.  To Molly, it was just a block of wood and nothing more.  She talked to it but since deep inside she did not believe in the cube, nothing happened.  The magic toy store also threw a fierce ‘tantrum’ before and after Mr Magorium’s departure.  The entire store and its toys finally turned grey and lifeless, and became really very depressing to look at.  

Hence Molly ended up nearly selling the store.  Then just before she sold the store, she argued with the accountant where she insisted that the wooden cube was magical.  The cube came to life and flew all over the store in ‘celebration’ while the accountant fainted!  Molly finally undertstood the enormous power of her beliefs.  Waving her hands like a music conductor, she restored the magic of the store and brought all the toys back to ‘life’!  Hence there was an important message in the movie - you’ve got to believe it to see it (the magic)!

In real life, we’ve got to believe in ourselves and the achievement of our goals, before we can reach them and succeed.  In the past before I learnt Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), I only subconsciously set mini goals and devised simple strategies just to accomplish the immediate tasks at hand.  Now looking back, most movies and fiction books out there are based on this single common storyline that cannot go wrong, that is, to set goals, find strategies to achieve them and overcome any obstacles along the way.  We all have the equivalent of the magic wooden cube in our hands too.  We just need to believe in its magic to see our success!