'The Portable Door' Ending Explained: A fantasy adventure movie with draggy ending
Spoilers for 'The Portable Door'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: MGM+ has the latest offering titled 'The Portable Door', which takes us on a thrilling fantasy adventure set in an office that's shrouded in mystery. The London-based firm, JW Wells & Co, is at the center of it all, and there are some dark secrets lurking behind its closed doors. With a setting that's reminiscent of both Harry Potter's Ministry of Magic and Terry Gilliam's Brazil, this co-production between The Jim Henson Company and Sky Cinema is based on the first novel of Tom Holt's JW Wells & Co young adult series, promising potential for numerous sequels.
The story follows the journey of Paul, an ordinary man played by Patrick Gibson (known for his role in 'Shadow & Bone'), who lands an internship at JW Wells & Co, a mysterious company with an even weirder boss Humphrey Wells (Christoph Waltz) and middle manager Dennis Tanner(Sam Neill), despite having no clue about their operations. Although a disappointing and subpar execution, does the ending make it worthwhile? Continue reading to understand what the climax of 'The Portable Door' has in store for us.
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What is 'The Portable Door' about? Plot of MGM+ fantasy adventure movie explained
Tanner confronts Paul and Sophie
Paul and Sophie, upon acquiring the towel that summons the portable door through the phrase "Knock Knock," break loose as they now have access to anywhere they desire. After exploiting the door, they arrive at their office where they are confronted by Tanner (Sam Neill). He asks them about their beach attire and looks down to find beach sand on the floorboards. With visible tension on their faces, Tanner quickly orders them to fold the towel and place them before Humphrey's office and never return if they want to stay alive. Paul and Sophie decide to return to the building in order to rip up Sophie's draconian contract that makes her surrender her soul to the company and in turn, Humphrey. Let me give you a little detail. Staying at or entering JW Wells and Co past five is not allowed. As Paul and Sophie try to go to Humphrey's office, the door seems to not cooperate as it sends them somewhere else in the building. A hideous dungeon of paperwork and printers with elements of industrial horror is where Paul and Sophie are taken to. After investigating, they quickly learn that the place stores paperwork for all the services provided by JW Wells and Co, including gym memberships, and soul surrendering agreements, or as Humphrey likes to call it, Operation Fine Print. The contract needs to be deposited in the Bank of The Dead for it to be in motion. Just as they thought they know everything, a strange cacophony of loud gnarls and screeches can be heard from the other side of the room. Desperate to save their lives, Paul and Sophie run from the scene only to find themselves before a frustrated group of Goblins. As they are being chased, Paul opens the portable door and escapes to the basement.
Dennis, the master of Goblins
The strict and arrogant middle manager, Dennis Tanner walks out in front of a spotlight that hides his face in the shadows. As he confronts the pair, his face is visible and it's revealed that he is also a Goblin. He claims to have looked out for Paul throughout his life. Still keeping his calm as it's evident that Tanner is his well-wisher, he demands the door from Paul. Just then Wells arrives at the scene. Tanner tries to defend Paul while Humphrey isn't having any of it. They start fighting against one another which creates the opportunity for Paul and Sophie to escape through the door. As they were about to prompt the name of the place they want to go, Humphrey controls Sophie and restricts her from saying anything which takes them to the Nether. As they entered, Humphrey said, "The one who closes the door, keeps the door."
Nether and its secrets
The Nether looks like an infinite 3-D space with a door every inch almost reminiscent of the Tesseract in 'Interstellar'. The pair find an old man who keeps waiting for somebody to find a door that will let him out. As he claims, there is no door that leads outside. That man is none other than Humphrey's father, John Wells. Since John didn't deposit the contract which would control Humphrey's soul, he cannot do anything to change the way things are. He was trapped by his son using his baby dragon. A wizard of John's caliber can only be contained in the Nether. As Sophie and John were having a conversation, Paul, using his magical powers, finds the door that leads out. The trio arrive at JW Wells and hastily reach the basement of contracts. John asks them to deposit his contract in the bank. Humphrey finds out his father is free and attacks him in the basement. What follows is a few minutes of intense wizard-style fighting between the father and the son. Paul tries to reach the bank but is trapped by goblins at the command of Humphrey. As the fighting gets intense, Rosie gets to the scene and with John helps resurrect her husband, Arthur who is Tanner's father. As everybody arrives at the scene, Humphrey has John pinned to the ground. Humphrey decides that he will go on his own and attacks Paul to retrieve his soul contract by threatening to hurt Sophie. As Paul walks towards Humphrey, Sophie speaks to Paul in his mind which inspires him to make his own door to reach the bank. He deposits the contract and gives John power over Humphrey's soul. John magically puts him into a school attire and sends him to the Nether. They disable the door and send the towel out for recycling.
The underwhelming ending
After their victory, Paul and Sophie are appointed by John to the company as permanent employees. Sophie has been fast-tracked to the position of VP while Paul has been appointed as a junior in the Lost and Found department. Here Sophie and Paul are found to communicate through their minds which then cuts to them holding hands and a shot of the towel being brought by a housekeeping lady to a room in a hotel. After the credits, we see Paul managing his lost and found department for a few seconds as the movie ends.
Conclusion
'The Portable Door' had an ending that seems refreshing after a, for the lack of a better word, boring plot but loses the grip by extending the scenes irrationally. If the climax was shortened, it would have been a tad more engaging and fun to watch.
'The Portable Door' is available on MGM+.