“Shazam!” is the 7th movie installment of the DC Extended Universe and with its release Friday, April 5, the movie is bringing the hope of a brighter future for the fans of the DC movie universe. “
Shazam!” seems to have learned from previous failures of the movies that came before it. It takes a brighter tone which was key to making “Aquaman” so successful, another superhero movie released last year.
The superhero craze doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, yet “Shazam!” brings a fresh new take to the superhero genre.
“Shazam!” shows its viewers what would happen if a troubled teenage orphan got the power of six different gods through magic and had no idea of how to use such powers. The movie focuses on the journey of Billy Batson (Asher Angel) a troubled orphan that keeps moving from foster home to foster home due to his mission of finding his mom.
The movie does a great job of filling in the mentor role for Billy with the DC fan boy character of Freddy Freeman (Jack Grazer). Freddy plays a key role for Billy figuring out his new given powers and how to use them. The adventure both characters go on in order to find what powers Shazam has is one of the biggest highlights of the movie. Shazam (Zachary Levi) delivers a powerful performance of a teenage boy inside the body of a grown man with god-like powers. Levi’s humor and great acting make him the perfect casting call to play Shazam. The chemistry between Levi, Grazer, and Angel onscreen is just perfect.
The only problems the movie seems to have is with pacing, feeling slow at the beginning and then rushed halfway through the end of the movie. Another major issue in the movie is that some of the jokes feel out of place and at times forced. Certain scenes create a serious tone to pull the audience to the characters in the scene and then a joke is made out of place and ruining the atmosphere.
“Shazam!” is the journey of a teenage boy who gets powers he did not want and must adapt to learn what it takes to be a real superhero. It is a funny and heartwarming movie the whole family can enjoy and laugh about together.
“Shazam!” is the second movie after Aquaman in the DCEU to bring hope for fans after the failure of “Justice League.” That makes them believe that Warner Brother Studios has learned from their mistakes and will pull away from their serious dark tone and make a more balanced movie that everyone can enjoy and look forward.
Score 8.3/ 10
