Continuity mistake: When Omri receives his new skateboard as a birthday present the deck is red with two white stripes. For the rest of the film it is red with blue stripes.
Continuity mistake: When Omri opens his birthday presents, Gilly's rat in the plastic ball is on the table; two seconds later it disappears.
Continuity mistake: When Omri goes to pick up one of the figures from the cupboard, the closeup shows it on the top shelf. In the external shot he picks it up from the bottom of the cupboard.
Answer: The cupboard isn't magical. It was found by Omri's brothers in the alley behind their house and given to him for his birthday. The magic comes from the key, which Omri's mom gave to him after seeing the cupboard. It originally belonged to either her grandmother or aunt, I forget which. In the books, Omri is able to use the key in other objects (like a trunk) proving the key has the magic, not the old cupboard.
Kaitlin Schwartzel