With the success of Wonder Woman and more recently Aquaman on a critical and financial level, Warner Bros. and DC Comics may have found a winning formula when it comes to their stand-alone superhero films. Outside of the two mentioned, their other films were presented with darker tones and didn’t appeal to its core fanbase despite doing reaching their numbers financially. With its latest entry, Shazam!, they have gone back to pleasing the audience.
Shazam! is an entertaining fantasy, family filled adventure. It’s really a group effort and not just the main character! The kids are fun and as the youngest in the cast, This Is Us young star Faithe Herman makes good with her scenes! Such a treat!
In and out of foster care homes since he got lost and couldn’t find his mom, Billy Batson (Asher Angel) has grown into a introverted 14 year-old teenager longing for acceptance. Through some mystical circumstance, he ends up meeting a wizard (Djimon Hounsou), who’s getting too old to protect the world from the Seven Deadly Sins being released and looking for a new champion who has the heart to take his place. Prior to that meeting, the wizard had challenged decades ago another young lad who had failed to meet his expectations.
By saying the word “Shazam!,” Batson turns into an adult (Zachary Levi) with superhero strengths. The body is different but the mind of a teenager is still there and it takes some time before Billy can process what to do with his newfound abilities. No superhero can stay silent. There’s always someone who knows the truth. For Batman, it’s his butler Alfred. For Superman, at least in the film world, it’s Lois Lane. In Shazam!, it’s Batson’s foster brothers and sisters, including Freddie Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), Eugene Choi (Ian Chen), Pedro Peña (Jovan Armand), and Darla Dudley (Faithe Herman). Together they keep his secret while his foster parents Rosa and Victor Vasquez (Marta Milans and Cooper Andrews) try to do their best to make him feel that he has a home with them.
For every superhero, there’s an archenemy and here’s it’s Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong). He’s the young boy from years ago who failed to earn the powers from the wizard and it’s been haunting him ever since. Even though he comes from wealth, it’s not about money, He wants power and absolute authority and Shazam is what stands in his way. So with Billy/ Shazam fighting crime and discovering how to best to use the powers bestowed, Silvana is the opposite and so it’s battle to see who will come out on top and if Billy can find the acceptance he looking for, whether it’s from his foster family or the fans he’s gaining as Shazam.
What’s fun about the film is that there’s a good mix of comedy and drama to appeal kids and adults. Levi, having done NBC’s Chuck, is perfectly cast as Shazam. He’s the Paul Rudd of Marvel. Both have a dry wit of humor and know how use it when the script is well written. Angel compliments Levi. But what also Shazam! entertaining is that the rest of the cast are also heavily involved. This is one of the few standalone films where the ensemble are not secondary roles, but really part of the film, especially Grazer. He’s the moral compass in the film and helps Billy battle whatever fears he’s facing as a teen/adult.He and Angel have great chemistry on screen. As the youngest in the film, Herman (from NBC’s This is Us) is just as fun to watch in her scenes.
With the exception of one or two dark scenes that’s questionable, the rest of the film is laced with messages, themes, emotionally and compelling. For those old enough, it’s easy to say that this “Big meets Superman” but that’s exactly what it is, in a way. It’s a fantasy film laced with comedy. Audiences go to the movies for escapism, and here’s a film where a kid gets to turn into an adult to escape his teen drama and actually do some good in the world…along with some help.
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