A toy story of a different stripe

To make 'Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium,' first-time director Zach Helm embraced kids, chaos and even zebras.

THE thing about having a zebra in your film is that if you need one, you're going to need two because zebras are herd animals. And for the second zebra, you'll need a pony so he'll have someone to hang with while the first one is shooting. But even with his entourage present, a relatively non-diva-like zebra is perfectly capable of balking at simple stage directions -- "sit on couch," for example -- choosing instead to break an irreplaceable Tiffany lamp that has already been established in previous shots. Also a coffee table.