Shazam!

Plot: 14 year old Billy Batson (Asher Angel) had an encounter with a wizard and became the superhero Shazam (Zachary Levi.) But he is still an immature 14 year old. When supervillian Dr Sivana (Mark Strong) comes after him, Shazam and his foster brother Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) don't know what to do. They keep their identities from their foster family for a while, but then everyone gets into the fight. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: The best part about Shazam is Zachary Levi playing an adult child with superpowers. His joy and discovery is fun to watch: clearly the best part of the movie.  Most of the story is corny, like the wizard and his liar, the smoke monsters, and the evil bad guy Dr Sivana.

The plot is simple enough to be a kid's movie, but it is a little too violent, some mild profanity, and a dark secret about Shazam's birth mom, that make me recommend that <13 year olds stay home. 

Cast: Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Kylan Grazer, Mark Strong

Directed by: David F Sandberg

Written by: Henry Gayden based on a story with Darren Lemke

The Visuals: Serviceable special effects - but a little on the simple side.

Rating: 2.5 stars: Good acting from Zachary Levi, but kind of corny otherwise. It's got a kid's movie plot.

 

More: DC's Shazam was also known as Captain Marvel, which is the same name as a different Captain Marvel superhero owned by Disney's Marvel. Hard to understand why there are

Even More: Director Sandberg liked having the adult superhero with a kid's personality, as in the 1988 movie Big. He says: Every kid dreams about becoming a superhero and he actually gets to become that. I keep saying that most superheroes get their superpowers when their adults and when they are in a place where they have these responsibilities and they are sort of weighted down by that. But, with a kid, you get that joy of “Oh shit! I’m a superhero, I can do all these things!”

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