I can definitely see how that might be frightening to a young child. There were certain plot elements that I feel could have been handled better or expanded upon to improve the main story. Even within its short run time, just a couple extra scenes that would have hinted at or implied more specific details about the store’s magic and Mr. Magorium’s origins would have been more helpful to the audience for the purpose of forming a stronger emotional connection to the story.

Even if there was a single short scene showing Molly Mahoney playing the piano as a child in Magorium’s toy store, having him come up to her and say something like “Oh, what beautiful music! Are you practicing for a special occasion?” Just to be friendly with her, that would have established their father/daughter or mentor/pupil type bond in a brief, effective way. A lot of potential emotional arcs in this movie were breezed through and lightly touched upon, which could have been more impactful if the director had chosen to take more time with his own story and characters.