When is a coincidence not a coincidence? When it’s been engineered by a covert magical society who specialise in such things? Confused? Then you’d better check out the new movie The Portable Door, which hits cinemas on March 30.
Based on the 2003 novel of the same name by comic fantasist Tom Holt (he’s who you read after you run out of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams), The Portable Door sees young Paul Carpenter (Patrick Gibson) land a job at the mysterious London firm J.W. Wells & Co—much to his surprise after a pretty disastrous interview.
As it turns out, it’s a firm of wizards who’s bosses: CEO Humphrey Wells (Christoph Waltz of Inglourious Basterds) and middle manager Dennis Tanner (Sam Neill of Jurassic Park) are up to no good. A magical artifact called The Portable Door has gone missing, and so our young hero teams up with fellow intern Sophie Pentigel (Sophie Wilde) team up to get to the bottom of it all.
This one comes to us courtesy of director Jeffrey Walker (Ali’s Wedding) via production houses The Jim Henson Company and Story Bridge Films—the former ensuring that the all the magical effects and fantastical creatures encountered over the course of the story look the business. The supporting cast is pretty magical too, with familiar faces Miranda Otto, Jessica de Gouw, Damon Herriman, and Rachel House showing up in the ensemble.
Comic opera fans will recognise J.W. Wells & Co from the Gilbert & Sullivan play The Sorcerer (and, to be honest, the only reason I did was that I was in a school production of it way back in the day), Holt having a fondness for extrapolating his stories from classic literature and mythology. Indeed, The Portable Door spawned a series of seven books so far, so expect sequels if this first adaptation clicks with audiences.
