The Portable Door

This is a somewhat contradictory movie.

Unusually, I chose to watch it on impulse, out of the blue, with no prior knowledge of what it was about, other than it had an intriguing title and a good cast.

From the first few minutes and on to about 45 minutes, the script, apparent plot, and acting successfully draw you in.

Everything is set up for The Portable Door to be some intriguing, mind binding, psychological, thought provoking film for adults.

You are being taken from the seemingly innocuous streets of London to witness what goes on behind the doors of a mysterious company run by people, Waltz and Neil, whose stated intent is the secret control of the masses, and to sell that ability to the highest bidders.

Burton's confusion but initial happiness in getting a strange job in this mysterious company is well portrayed, as is his discovery of his hitherto unknown 'other world' abilities.

It feels like a very dark, sci-fi, adult Alice in Wonderland equivalent, with The Portable Door being the entrance to anywhere possible, as per the rabbit hole.

Then, just as you sense this film can really take off into deep and intriguing mind games, something happens.

To me it suddenly changes direction, backs away from being grown up, and the second half goes completely the opposite, dumping all the careful build-up, the mystery, the intrigue, and the subtlety of leaving you wondering where is this going!

And for me that is why it seems the whole first half, of potentially a great attention grabbing movie, appears to be dumped in the bin.

It's as if halfway through making it, the director was told that the studio had now given permission for a good CGI budget to be available.

So now they had to spend it.

And that is why, the film suddenly changes from an interesting subtle mind drama to an all out, in your face, no mystery, flashes, bangs, wallops, villain chasing goodie with loads of odd other creatures hanging around kids fantasy movie.

So the last half hour or so is what you expect to see anywhere else, and therefore the end result is pretty obvious from way out, rather than being a last minute cliff-hangar.

I enjoyed the first half, but disappointed with the second half.

So much potential for a really intriguing film, and then it all reverts to a flash, bang, wallop, CGI action film, which chucks all the great acting of Waltz and Neill early on, out of the window.

IMPORTANT!!!

Right at the end of the last credits featuring all the CGI creators etc.., there is a clip of a final scene showing Burton, as the character Carpenter.

What happens in that scene is strangely a precise summary of what I have written above - so much potential, but at the end not much achieved.

So do watch right to the end.

It's a fitting summary added by the Director - very telling!

This movie is a good one-time-to-watch film. You may bring your family to the cinema and you will spend a good time watching it in a relaxed atmosphere.

However, if you expect some mind-blowing plot or unexpected twists - this film will mostly disappoint you. In fantasy movies there is always a thin ice in terms of making the plot work in some "magical" world but you still believe it, and having some absurd world. This film is closer to the second variant. Sometimes you find yourself at the point when you think "OK, this seems to be stolen from Harry Potter", sometimes you are like "What the hell? What am I watching". This film is rather naive fairytale than a Lord of the Rings style saga, that you can watch over and over again and not feel yourself as a young kid forced to believe something just because it is said so in movie.

Thus, I would recommend going to watch this film. Just take it easy and turn off the movie critic inside of you :)

Paul Carpenter is desperately looking for a job. After a most unusual interview he ends up hired in a company, but he neither knows what they do nor does he even know his duties. Then, two lowly newcomers , Paul (Patrick Gibson) and Sophie (Sophie Wilde), at J. W. Wells and Co., a mysterious firm based in London, uncover a plot by their CEO to disrupt the ancient magical world with modern corporate practices. Nasty villains Humphrey Wells (Christoph Waltz) , the CEO of the company, and middle manager Dennis Tanner (Sam Neill) are disrupting the world of magic by bringing modern corporate strategy to ancient magical practices

There are some similarities to 'Harry Potter' and ¨Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them¨sagas in this solid fantasy with adventures, magic and imagination. ¨The Portable Door¨ is the first book in Tom Holt's J. W. Wells & Co. Series, made up of eight books: The Portable Door (2003), In Your Dreams (2004), Earth, Air, Fire and Custard (2005), You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps (2006), The Better Mousetrap (2008), May Contain Traces of Magic (2009), Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages (2011), The Eight Reindeer of the Apocalypse (2023). Following a fascinating first 30 minutes the movie loses impetus as the writer struggles to spin it out towards two-hour length. Patrick Gibson and Sophie Wilde star in this magical film playing two interns become increasingly aware that their mysterious employers are anything but conventional, discovering the true agenda of the vast corporation; alongside the winner of two Oscars for best supporting actor Christoph Waltz (Django unchained) and Sam Neil (Jurassic Park) performing two charismatic villain chiefs. This likeable quartet of protagonists are well accompanied by a wonderful supporting cast, such as: Damon Herriman , Demi Harman, Rachel House, Miranda Otto, Chris Pang, Arka Das, and Jessica De Gouw.

It displays a thrilling and enjoyable musical score by Benjamin Speed. Likewise , a brilliant and colorful cinematography by Donald McAlpine. Along with stunning state-of-art special effects and creatures from Story Bridge Films and The Jim Henson Company. The motion picture was professionally directed by Jeffrey Walker though borrows heavily from other known stories. Craftsman Jeffrey Walker at his debut feature film, but he has directed a number of episodes of popular TV series, such as: The Artful Dodger, Bones, The Clearing , Blue heeler, H2o, Lambs of God, LA to Vegas, The Clearing, Home and away, Dance academy, The Elephant Princess, The young rock, Wild Boys , Angry Boys, among others. Rating: 6.5/10. Well worth watching.

What fun. An enchanting film. An adult fairy tale and boy meets girl rolled up into one.

Paul's very bad day leads to an unlikely job opening at the prestigious, mysterious company, J Wells. He quickly becomes a favorite of the boss, but no one else on the hiring committee has anything good to say about him. As he proves his metal to both his new coworker and the company at large, we are taking on a fantastic journey. Imaginative sets help create magical scenes.

Christopher Walt makes a great bad guy. The cast includes Sam Neill, who always delivers. I'm sure the primary actors are up and comers, but I'm just not familiar with them from earlier movies.

Enjoy!

Why do people who have read the book ever bother to view a film they know from the outset they will hate because - insert whiny voice- "it's not like the book". Why not save yourself the agony.

As a counterpoint I have read the book, and thought this adaptation was most enjoyable. You can't really describe anything without spoilers. Ut it bowls along with a great sense of humour -mfor some of which paying attention is rewarded.

If you haven't read the books give them a go as there are seven in the series and explore the idea in greater details. This will be good should get round to making a sequel.