Shazam! (2019)

Remember how Marvel Studios released a movie starring Captain Marvel last month? I bet you didn't realize that DC Comics has their own Captain Marvel too. No, really!

Their Captain Marvel made his debut in Fawcett Comics' Whiz Comics #2 in 1939, the creation of Bill Parker and C.C. Beck. He was a nearly instant success, his comics even outselling Superman's at one point in the '40s. But a combination of the dwindling popularity of superheroes following World War II and a lawsuit from DC Comics (who alleged that Captain Marvel was a ripoff of Superman), Fawcett Comics canceled all of Captain Marvel's comics by 1954.

He was eventually revived by DC Comics in 1972 after a little legal wheeling and dealing, but Marvel Comics had trademarked the "Captain Marvel" name in the intervening years. The original version's books were rebranded "Shazam!" as a result (eventually becoming the character's actual name during DC's "New 52" reboot in 2012), and the rest is history. The character was popular enough to spawn a live-action TV show that ran from 1974 to 1976 on CBS, and has appeared in in DC's animated work and the occasional video game (Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe and Injustice: Gods Among Us come to mind), but he's never been one of their top-tier characters.

But then Hollywood came knocking, and now DC's Captain Marvel is getting his own blockbuster movie. Of course, the name is different, but not much else has changed. And while the DC Extended Universe has gotten a lot of flack in the past for how weak their movies have been, but I'll tell you this: Shazam! is a hell of a lot of fun.

Fourteen-year-old Billy Batson (Asher Angel) has spent most of his life bouncing in and out of every foster home in Philadelphia. He never stays for long, constantly running away to search for the birth mother he hasn't seen in years. As the movie begins, he's dropped off at a new home that's populated by a few other foster kids. Among them is Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), a physically handicapped fan of superheroes who immediately welcomes Billy into their family.

Billy initially dismisses Freddy and his other foster siblings since he's not planning on sticking around for long, but he can't help but save Freddy from some schoolyard bullies. The bullies end up chasing Billy into a subway car, where he is magically transported to a cave called home by the ancient wizard Shazam (Djimon Hounsou). The dying wizard has spent centuries searching for someone pure of heart to inherit his powers and defend the world, and Billy is his last hope. All Billy has to do is say the wizard's name, and he is transformed into an adult superhero (Zachary Levi) with a multitude of amazing abilities.

An astounded Billy returns home and reveals his situation to Freddy, and the pair start exploring the adult Billy's new superpowers. Their training videos end up going viral online, and Billy starts irresponsibly using his powers to start busking around the city.

Doing so, however, draws the attention of Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), who was called by the wizard as a child in 1974 but was deemed unworthy. He was left immensely bitter by the rejection and has spent every moment since then obsessed with claiming that power he believes is rightfully his. While Billy spends his time doing parlor tricks with his powers to tourists, Sivana accomplishes his lifelong goal and finds a way back to the wizard's cave. He steals a mystical orb that imbues him with the demonic essence of the Seven Deadly Sins, returning to Philadelphia determined to force Billy to surrender the powers of Shazam to him.

I can't say that I was all that familiar with Shazam before seeing the movie. I'd heard of the character, sure, but my previous experiences with him have been the video game appearances I mentioned earlier and a 2005 episode of Justice League Unlimited where he fights Superman. But I went into the movie excited because of how good the trailers were, and I was far from disappointed. Shazam! not only rivals Wonder Woman for the title of "best movie in the DC Extended Universe," but is genuinely one of the most entertaining superhero movies I've seen in a while. It's wonderfully charming, with lovable characters and a real emotional weight to it. It felt to me like a more modern, more comedic take on what Richard Donner did with Superman in 1978, and I am never gonna complain about something like that.

Shazam! is the third feature-length movie from director David F. Sandberg, and I thought he did a great job at the helm. He plays the movie more for comedy, which is a refreshing change of pace considering how seriously most movies in this genre seem to take themselves nowadays. The movie actually plays like a superhero version of the classic Tom Hanks movie Big, right down to a fight between Shazam and Sivana going over a giant piano on the floor of a toy store. That isn't a bad thing either, since it makes for an entertaining time at the movies. The DC Extended Universe gets a lot of well-deserved flack because of how unrelentingly grim Man of Steel and Batman v Superman were. While that doesn't necessarily apply to Wonder Woman or Aquaman, Shazam! does its own part to break the mold. It's not a bleak, dreary tale with no hope, but instead features characters that truly care for one another and a superhero that's actually having fun instead of feeling miserable.

I also liked that Sandberg focuses more on developing the characters instead of letting the special effects dominate the movie. The more the movie progresses, the more you want to see where Billy and his foster family go and how they grow together. Yeah, we've got the standard "hero vs. villain" effects-heavy showdown at the end of the movie, but it's still done in such a way that it feels like a logical conclusion for the paths the characters have taken.

The screenplay goes a long way in helping that, as well. Loosely based on Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's comic book story that rebooted Shazam as part of DC's "New 52" relaunch, the script by Henry Gayden (from a story by Gayden and Darren Lemke) has a huge amount of heart in it. It doesn't feel like your typical origin story, mainly because of the strong emotional depth of the movie. It's best exemplified by how Billy and Sivana are polar opposites of one another. Billy was abandoned by his mother and spent his whole life searching for her before stumbling into a family that loves him unconditionally. Sivana, meanwhile, spent his whole life searching for a way to get rid of the father and brother he hated, and was found by a group of monsters that use him for their own nefarious ends. Billy's powers were gifted to him, though he believed himself unworthy of them; Sivana stole his powers and greedily sought more. They're two sides of the same coin, their arcs moving in such a way that makes the story more fascinating to watch as it plays out.

But perhaps the best part of Shazam! is its cast, all of whom hand in strong performances. I really enjoyed Faithe Herman as Billy's enthusiastic little sister Darla, while Jack Dylan Grazer is fantastic as Freddy. He's really funny in the role and proves himself to be the perfect sidekick for both the teenagew and adult versions of Billy.

Mark Strong, meanwhile, brings a real sense of menace to the character of Sivana. The movie establishes that Sivana's fatal flaw is how much he covets power because of how ineffectual he felt as a child. Strong effortlessly shows that, playing Sivana with all the jealousy and anger someone like that would feel towards people he felt looked down on him, and how corrupted he is by the power he has.

And that brings us to the two actors playing Billy Batson. Asher Angel is perfect as the teenage Billy, bring some serious feelings of longing and melancholy to the character. His loneliness is front and center, along with some of the ego he develops as the videos of his superpowers go viral, and Angel makes it all believable. Zachary Levi, on the other hand, is hilarious as the adult Billy. Not only does he convincingly play an adult version of Asher, mannerisms and all, but as his viral notoriety go to his head and he starts showing off more, Levi gets funnier and funnier as the movie goes along. He's obviously having a blast playing Shazam, and it's an infectious kind of fun.

And I could say something similar about Shazam! as a whole that I said about Levi: it gets better and better with each passing moment. By the end, you don't want it to be over because it's 131 minutes of pure fun. I honestly can't say enough positive things about the movie; I hate to sound hyperbolic, but it's true. And while Shazam! might be left in the dust once Marvel's Avengers: Endgame is released in three weeks, I'm happy that DC could provide us with an entertaining diversion before we get there. There's plenty of magic in Shazam!, and you'd be doing yourself a favor by checking it out.

Final Rating: ****