This would be the first of the DC films I’ve watched since Wonder Woman. I’d considered watching Aquaman but it seems to be all about the spectacle and special effects. I might have skipped this one as well but I rather like the idea of encouraging DC to go for more humor and ease up on the grimdark. Hopefully their whole stable of films will continue to improve now that Zach Snyder is firmly out of the picture.

A prologue recounts a young Thaddeus Sivana encountering and then ultimately being rejected by the wizard Shazam, causing him to spend his life seeking out the power of the Seven Deadly Sins. Meanwhile in the present delinquent Billy Batson keeps running away from the foster families he is placed in. The latest one is a couple who were once foster children themselves and already have five other children happily living with them of diverse ethnicities. However the distrustful Billy refuses to give them a chance and continues to want to search for his real mother. After Sivana successfully forces him way back into the Rock of Eternity and steals the power of the Seven Sins, Shazam is forced to grant his power to the next candidate which is Billy. This changes Billy to a superpowered adult form and together with his foster brother Freddy they have fun experimenting and playing with powers instead of engaging in any actual superheroics.

Now that DC is no longer allowed to use the Captain Marvel name, I wondered how they would handle it in this film as the Shazam is actually the name of the wizard. It turns out that they sort of dodge the issue as Billy and Freddy makes a running joke out of a succession of ever sillier superhero names. It’s a real pity however as with how the plot develops, they deserve to have the right to keep the Marvel Family name. The humor and family values here are spot on and as I noted when we watched Chronicle, when a kid suddenly gains superpowers, it’s much more plausible for them to fool around with them than suddenly get a calling to fight crime. Asher Angel does a great job as the child version of the character, being someone who is still a kid and yet has some experience at being burned and has been around the block a few times.

Unfortunately Zachary Levi plays the aged up superhero with a drastically different tone, being far more boisterous and juvenile in behavior than Billy Batson. They don’t feel like the same person at all. As with the recent spate of superhero films, by tapping a relatively unknown and inexperienced director David F. Sandberg, they may have found someone talented enough to handle the characters, but it takes a lot of technical skill to do proper fight scenes and that’s not in evidence here. The first scene of the Seven Sins manifesting is shot like a horror film and is surprisingly gory for what should be a family friendly movie. The rest of the fights are basically by the numbers affairs with no sense of the immense forces involved and no dynamism. I also feel that the exaggerated muscle suit Levi wears is okay when they’re playing for humor but looks plain silly when the fights are supposed to be serious. It doesn’t help either that Mark Strong is overused as a villain actor. This would have been a far more impressive film if they could really have used Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam.

I’d still consider this watchable and decently entertaining. Even if it’s not great, I much prefer this to grimdark DC. Plus while I enjoyed seeing the whole Marvel Family, they will have to do better than this to keep my interest. Teasing the ridiculous Mister Mind as the villain of the sequel doesn’t feel like a step in the right direction.