The Portable Door (2023) is a whimsical little story concerning starting a new job that happens to involve goblins. It’s all very silly, and then it comes to an end.
The problem? There’s no real risk for the characters’ choices. Think of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Right from the start is a man driven by his ambitious moral choices in one framework, and how they collide with those of another – and the presence of the woman he loves as the background to it. By the time the Ark is opened, the audience is quivering in near-panic.
But this? A colorless Brit with magical powers that he hasn’t earned, another Brit in a fast track to division leadership, oddball management… it may be worth a laugh, but that’s it in the end.
So there’s a reason I’ve never heard of this movie: there’s nothing memorable about it.
Too bad.
