Shazam!

Good Goofy Fun!

This post will contain spoilers



My cousin took my out to see Shazam for my birthday. I’ve been iffy on DC superhero movies, since they can’t seem to find the right balance between silly and… not even serious but EMO!!!!

Shazam nails it. Orphan Billy Batson, lost in a fair at 3 years old, is looking for his mom, ends up with a cool foster family (seriously, I wish they were all like this) and gains the powers of the wizard Shazam!

Before Billy though, there were other children… children who failed… and one spends his life hunting down a way to get the power he was denied. Dr. Sivana made for a really sympathetic villain, and also you could tell Mark Strong had a blast playing the part.



Honestly, the story exactly what it appears to be in the previews, but the way it’s handled is so perfectly done, and with just enough twist to make it memorable. Especially when Billy finally does find his mom, and it turns out she was just a scared teenager who made a bad choice, and has apparently made more bad choices going forward. I didn’t expect that they were going to go that way with the story.

I also appreciated how important family was in this movie. And it didn’t matter that it wasn’t family by blood, but rather family by choice. Found family, collected family, family that’s a little broken, but still good. Yes, I’m thinking of Lilo and Stitch here.



DC has finally managed to make a movie that should be the template for their cinematic universe. Now, obviously there isn’t going to be anything quite so silly as “Big, but with Super Powers” but they need to step away from the GRIM DARK EMO MY PARENTS ARE DEAD schtick, and make it FUN.

And stay for the scene at the end of the credits. Totally worth it.