Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 2 hours, 12 minutes
Director: David F. Sandberg
Quick Impressions:
“We’re going to see Shazam! Shazam! Shazam! Shazam!” my son sang as he danced into the theater.
Honestly, when I first saw the earliest trailer for this movie, my immediate question was, “Why?” My follow up question was, “Seriously?”
But then over the course of months, the trailer slowly began to wear me down and win me over. I mean, I like Zachary Levi as much as anybody whose two-year-old daughter was once obsessed with Tangled. And my husband and I are big fans of Djimon Hounsou, whose career in comic book movies is suddenly exploding. He’s in Shazam! and Captain Marvel! I’ve always imagined the MCU and the DCU as rival gangs like the Jets and the Sharks. (My knowledge of gangs is not firsthand.) I’m quite impressed that Hounsou has managed to work for both comic dynasties in blockbusters debuting the same spring. I remember he said he took his Guardians role because his son was a big fan of the comics, so I assume he appears in Shazam! because of his son, too.
I mean, that’s what got me into Shazam! Not Djimon Honsou’s son, buy my own. While we were at the theater last week waiting for Dumbo to start, the trailer for Shazam! made my three-year-old sit up on the edge of his seat and exclaim breathlessly, “Ooh! Shazam! I want to see that! When are we going to Shazam!?”
He’s never reacted that way to a trailer before. (His more typical refrain is, “Where is my popcorn?” until my husband returns with our concessions), so I was definitely on board to see this movie after such an unexpected show of enthusiasm. It was pretty easy to see why the trailer had captured his three-year-old imagination. What’s cooler to a little boy than another boy who suddenly transforms into a man and gets superpowers? Recently my son has become a little gamer, absolutely obsessed with getting (and keeping) fireballs as various incarnations of Mario. He loves coming to my rescue by coming in hot, fireballs blazing, to kill the bad guys. So the draw of a big muscle man who shoots lightning out of his fingers is pretty obvious.
Plus the trailer makes the movie look really funny and silly, all about the zany misadventures of this child in an adult’s body and his witty young foster brother as they go heroing around eating tasty convenience store snacks.
In that way, the trailer is a bit misleading. Yes, the funny, bromancy escapades of the foster brothers are definitely in the movie. But overall, Shazam! is much darker and more intense than the trailer suggests. Some scenes are downright terrifying (for children).
Still, it’s not as relentlessly dark as most recent DC movies. Watching Shazam!, I get the impression that the crafters of the DCU asked themselves, “What if we tried making a movie that audiences will enjoy?”
Quite honestly, the DC films Shazam! most reminded me of are Richard Donner’s Superman movies of yore. Some of the scenes have a remarkably similar look, to the point that I’d assume intentional homage. Another film with a similar premise and vibe that gets a sweet little nod of acknowledgement is the Tom Hanks comedy Big. Yes, that wasn’t a super hero movie, but you could draw a Venn diagram placing Superman in one circle, Big in the other, and Shazam! in the area of overlap.
Basically the hero in this movie has plenty of issues he’s working through, but he is not dark, edgy, or sinister (not even when he wants to be). The movie is unapologetically excited about how cool it is to be a hero and is equally unapologetically devoted to the concept that being good is the way to go.
The line between hero and villain is not blurred. The hero fights for good against evil. The villain is like, “Evil be thou my good!” as he welcomes a horde of demons rushing directly into his eyeball. So there’s a clear demarcation between sides.
Still the story manages to give us a careful set up and plenty of payoff in real human drama. It’s just an old-fashioned super hero story, which may be a little corny and simplistic but is much easier to watch than tortured heroes brooding around edgily through excruciatingly labyrinthine plots for elongated runtimes.
The Good:
Zachary Levi is undeniably game as adult “Mr. Sparkle Fingers,” but honestly I think Asher Angel is even better as the young Billy Batson, and as his foster brother/sidekick Freddy Freeman, Jack Dylan Grazer is even better than Angel. The two young actors are a joy to watch. Billy gets a really compelling, moving story arc. It’s pretty easy to guess how the search that has motivated him for most of his life is going to end up, and Angel plays these scenes so well. It’s easy to like and root for Billy even when his behavior is less than sparkling. Meanwhile, Freddy Freeman is arguably the most captivating character in the movie, and Grazer is the perfect scene partner for both Angel and Levi.
The supporting cast is good, too. I particularly liked Marta Milans and Cooper Andrews as the kind-hearted foster parents. It’s always nice to imagine a world in which foster kids are having a happy life in a good home since the media usually makes us believe that every foster situation is an unending nightmare for the children and simply a paycheck for the parents. I’ve known some foster families for whom this was very much not the case. Of course, abuse undeniably happens to many kids in the system, but abuse can happen in any family. I like the idea this movie whole-heartedly espouses of choosing a family and working to build healthy, rewarding relationships.
This is definitely a movie that foster parents (and parents who have recently adopted older children) can feel good about taking their families to see. So often movies are like, “Thank God you found real parents at last, Timmy! Now your nightmare is over, and your real life can begin!” which much be a frustrating “happy ending” to see over and over again if you’re in foster care or trying to provide a loving home to foster children. I like Shazam!‘s idea that life need not be ideal to be meaningful and happy. Because let’s face it, none of us comes from a perfect past, but the future is for everyone.
What impressed me most about Shazam!, though, is not its (amazingly sympathetic) heroes, but how compellingly it introduces us to its villain.
The opening scenes are among the best in the movie. (“I’ll bet Shazam is going to save them,” my son said with cheery optimism as the first scene dramatically unfolded. “I don’t think so, Buddy,” I said, trying to think how best (and most quietly) to prepare him for whatever horrible thing was about to happen.)
What really gets me isn’t whom the wizard selects to gain the power of Shazam, but instead whom he doesn’t select. I feel like this wizard needs to work on his algorithm. He’s either being far too picky about finding a worthy champion or not nearly picky enough about which potential champions to pull into his otherworldly lair. I feel like he’s made a mess of things, and I would one-hundred percent watch a spinoff TV series entitled Not Shazam! (I’m serious. This entire mess was far more compelling to me than the actual plot of the movie.)
Shazam! has surprisingly good writing for a DC movie. We get winning jokes, believable conflict, and fun action scenes, but what looks coolest are the battles between Shazam and his nemesis, set up so similarly to old Superman movies.
Also, about two-thirds of the way through, I suddenly sat up and said, “Hold on! Is this a Christmas movie? It is a Christmas movie! When exactly did it become a Christmas movie?” Apparently it was always a Christmas movie, and I was just slow noticing. (One scene, which is an obvious nod to Big also seems like it might be a subtle nod to the atrocious and perhaps beloved Christmas comedy Jingle All the Way, but I would have to watch that movie again to be sure, and to be honest, I’m not going to do that.)
By the end, there is no denying it, Shazam! Is definitely a Christmas movie, in the tradition of Gremlins, Die Hard, The Ref, Lethal Weapon, and other unlikely holiday classics. I love discovering surprise Christmas movies. It is one of my greatest joys in life.
Best Action Sequence:
Possibly my favorite moment in the entire movie comes when Billy discovers one of his most convenient powers while in the middle of a fight with his nemesis. This is not a surprising super hero power. It’s kind of a classic. But the scene is so effective because a) the trailer conceals the fact that Billy even has this power, and b) the moment of his discovery plays out in such a cool, fun way. It looks good as the action is unfolding onscreen. From then on, the action scenes in the movie remind me increasingly of Superman, back when Superman was less complicated and more fun.
I’m actually extremely curious about how this movie will fit into the greater DCU plan.
Best Scene Visually:
I love the fun use of the Magic 8 Ball. Probably the coolest looking scene to me is the unexpected departure and disappointing return of young Thaddeus Sivana. That entire sequence is presented in such a visually interesting way. It looks so compelling and mysterious before he even goes anywhere out of the ordinary. We see everything from such effective angles.
Best Scene:
My favorite scene is the discovery made in Dr. Sivana’s lab.
Probably the strongest part of the movie comes in the last big battle and would be super spoilery to comment on in any way. Another great scene is when Billy finally faces his past. (My husband loved the way the movie shows us one flashback from two points of view, and so did I.)
The Negatives:
This movie introduces its villain with such meticulous care. I love the opening scenes of this movie, and even more I love the way we stumble back into Dr. Sivana’s life later on. His research and discoveries fascinate me. I’d love to explore this portion of the story further, and I feel I could spend several hours (or pages) discussing the ultimate selection of Billy Batson, the wizard’s strengths and failings, and Sivana’s role in the determining the identity of the champion. I won’t do that now because it would be too spoilery.
The thing is, after giving Dr. Sivana such an amazing introduction and building his backstory so carefully, the movie doesn’t really develop him any further. He begins with so much potential, but becomes just a convenient way for the hero to learn the extent of his powers and to feel motivated to use them. Honestly, this is fine as is (and it makes sense. Devoting yourself to evil stunts your development). With some tweaking, though, this nemesis guy could be amazing. Mark Strong is a great actor, and the character has so much room for growth. I hope he turns up in a sequel.
Another small complaint I have is that Shazam! feels just a touch too long. There’s a stretch in the middle when Zachary Levi’s character is being kind of a self-absorbed, self-aggrandizing, shallow jerk. His friend finds this grating, and I found it kind of grating, too. It just goes on and on and on. I wanted to yell, “Okay. Yes. We get it.” But to be fair, I was watching the movie with a squirmy three-year-old who was growing impatient to see Shazam start saving people and fighting bad guys. (Also, the guy next to me had a persistent cough and sniffle, and I felt I couldn’t avoid contagion too much longer.)
I had one other issue that might be related to our choice to watch the movie 2D. (Our kids just don’t keep the glasses on.) Near the end, there’s one particular moment of CGI next to a ferris wheel that just looks weird and unreal to me. I feel like they’re trying to show depth and distance by simply increasing size, and the illusion is not working. Perhaps, though, this moment is more effective in 3D, which it may exist primarily to showcase.
In general, the movie worked for me. I will add, for the benefit of other parents whose kids were wowed by the trailer, Shazam! is rated PG-13 for a reason. A couple of scenes are way scarier than I expected, and there’s also some crude humor (though it’s organically juvenile and has a goofy charm). My son did cry out in fright a couple of times, but a far bigger issue for him was that Shazam took forever to save anyone. I feel like he was keeping count of the number of people not saved by Shazam, and if you approach the movie from this perspective, your non save count is going to get gratingly high before anyone actually does get saved.
Overall: