Shazam! Shazam!! Shazaaaam!!! Dammit, I’m still — just me. One easy way to describe Shazam to your friends is ‘Big meets Superman with magic.’ If you guys haven’t seen or even heard of Big, it’s a wish-fulfillment movie starring Tom Hanks playing a character who wishes to be ‘big’ and magically wakes up the next day in the body of an adult with the mind of a child. And, if you haven’t seen or heard of Superman, you’re probably a — Skrull…

Fun fact – Shazam was actually called ‘Captain Marvel’ for a long time in the comics before DC changed their Captain Marvel’s name to Shazam. It’s so cool how we ‘technically’ got 2 Captain Marvel movies within the span of a month.

Positives – Zachary Levi!! Maybe it is a little too early but I firmly believe that we should add his casting to the Mt. Rushmore of superhero castings (RDJ as Iron Man, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool.) He is absolutely born to play Shazam!! His energy is completely infectious and brings such a delight to a superhero. In one of the featurettes, Levi said “Shazam is one of those heroes that just enjoys being a superhero” and he is so right. Unlike most superheroes that want to save the world because they have to (“with great power comes great responsibility), Shazam just wants to save the world because it’s fun! His alter ego, Billy Batson, played wonderfully by Asher Angel, has the emotional heavy-lifting in the movie and that’s where most of the heart of the movie comes from. Speaking of, one thing that especially differentiates this film from other DCEU and superhero movies, in general, is with the heart. This movie has a ton of heart and is just such an enjoyable movie from start to finish. Jack Dylan Grazer, who played Eddie in IT, steals every scene he’s in. He is the foster brother to Billy and is a huge fanboy of the Justice League characters and naturally ends up as the “guy in the chair” to Billy. My favorite sequence of the movie is immediately after Billy gets his powers and shows this new super-powered persona to Freddie. We get a convenience store robbery scene and a montage of Billy discovering his powers and boy, was I laughing hard! This movie shows you just the joy of being a superhero. If a teenager suddenly had the ability to become an adult, he/she would naturally try to, for example, make money showing off their powers or buying beer and this joy is simply missing from superhero movies these days! If you’re just looking for a movie with good characters, emotions, and laughs, this is totally that movie. This movie also explores the themes of family and choosing your own family, which absolutely worked. Billy and his mom were separated at a carnival when he was very young and he later learns why. These scenes are powerful and I responded to that. Lastly, Billy’s foster parents are just such nice adults and it’s refreshing seeing foster parents in movies not being dirtbags.

Negatives – After the amazing f(l)ight sequences in Man of Steel, the f(l)ight scenes in Shazam were subpar and could have been crafted differently to differentiate from Superman’s. The CGI is also quite poor and noticeable, especially the physical looks of the 7 different sins. Speaking of the 7 sins (pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth), which played a big role in the movie Seven, ended up being quite underwhelming. I wish they had unique abilities that the hero has to overcome from a way different than just using his superpowers on. If your movie involves sins like greed or sloth, have Billy/Shazam defeat and conquer each and every one of the sins differently. Like the last couple of DCEU movies, the villain is given a good amount of screen time but his motivations are quite generic and ultimately are just ‘meh.’ Maybe I am just spoiled by how excellent Marvel’s last couple of villains have been, especially Thanos…

Rating – Shazam is everything people have been waiting for from DC. It’s funny, has terrific performances, heart, and is not afraid of showing us a superhero that just loves being a superhero. 3.8/5

My rankings of the DCEU (from best to worst) – Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, Shazam, Aquaman, Batman v Superman, Justice League and Suicide Squad.