[7.9/10] It’s no coincidence that the two best movies in the D.C. Extended Universe -- *Shazam!* and *Birds of Prey* are the ones that could be labeled as comedies. With Zack Snyder as the originator of the uber-franchise, the DCEU has a reputation for dour, grayscale drudgery through its superheroic meditations. But by breaking out of that mold and into humor, the two more colorful corners of this cinematic universe carry far more charm than all their sister films put together.
Which is to say that *Shazam!* is nothing short of delightful. It doesn’t offer particularly deep ruminations on the moral weight of being a hero or grappling with human prejudice in the face of demigods. Instead, it leans into the goofy glee of what it would be like for a fourteen-year-old to gain superpowers and the ridiculousness that would ensue. It tells the tale of Billy Batson, an orphan and perpetual runaway who finds himself tapped as the much-ballyhooed “champion” of a dying wizard, becoming a grown-up hero in the process.
In some ways, for all its bright and silly trappings, this is most realistic movie in the D.C. pantheon, for the way it acknowledges that a kid gaining superhuman abilities would probably goof around and fumble the hero ball a lot as he started to figure out what they should really be used for. The scenes where Billy and his best friend/foster brother Freddy test out those powers, with mixed and often comical results, are an absolute highlight.
What makes *Shazam!* so refreshing in the DCEU is that it doesn’t take this superhero stuff seriously. There’s a *Guardians of the Galaxy*-like quality to it where any time it seems like the movie might devolve into scowling superheroic severity, the script undercuts the heaviness of the moment with a joke, often one that pokes fun at the conventions of the genre. Villain monologues go unheard across long distances. Bearded mentors shouting instructions to chosen ones receive chuckles. And attempts to leap tall buildings in a single bound end in a splat.
And yet, despite the air of cartooniness about the whole thing, and its general bent toward humor, there’s some real sadness and heart at the core of the film. (As my wife observed, the movie feels strangely of a piece with *Lilo and Stitch* in that regard.) Billy rejects the warm loving group home he’s been placed in, and the adoptive family who’ve welcomed him, in favor of tracking down his biological mother. Finding her is supposed to make his life whole again, to fix whatever went wrong.
Instead, when he does find her (with the help of his foster siblings, no less), he discovers that the mom he thought he lost abandoned him, because she was a seventeen-year-old kid barely older than he is now who couldn’t take care of him then and is no more equipped to now. In different hands, this could be one of those stark but affecting indie dramas, about an orphan who’s held a place in their heart for a missing parent who finds the reality doesn’t match their fantasy.
*Shazam!* isn’t subtle about any of this, but the emotional adjustment in these scenes feel real. You’re apt to roll your eyes when Billy utters stock pre-epiphany aphorisms like that “family is for people who can’t look out for themselves.” But there’s meaning when Billy decides that even though he’s not related to them by blood, the smiling faces and supportive siblings he finds in his group home make it his real home, make them his real family, and the thing he was truly looking for even if he didn’t realize it. There’s some cheesiness and simplicity to the delivery, but the moral is a wholesome and, more to the point, effective one, which comes through in the lived-in relationships and dynamics we see between Billy and the people in his orbit.
Much of that owes to the great performances in the movie. Zachary Levi does great work as the titular hero, channeling the “kid in a grown up’s body” vibe necessary to make the boyish fantasy work. Levi remains charming and funny throughout, capturing a fourteen-year-old’s wide-eyed wonder and sheer excitement at being able to be powerful and self-directed after so long being the little guy.
Mark Strong all but saves the antagonist chunks of the film as Dr. Sivana, a magic-eyed baddie out to steal Shazam’s powers. There’s some meat to Sivana in the script. He’s a negative image of Billy, resenting his family rather than yearning for one, and motivated by proving himself to a bad dad who told him he was never good enough or man enough rather than an absent mom who wasn’t there to tell Billy anything. But after the first act or so, Sivana becomes a pretty generic bad guy who’s only elevated (no pun intended), by Strong’s presence and commitment to the character and his longstanding resentments.
But Jack Dylan Grazer steals the show as Freddy, Billy’s best friend, hero coach, and conscience. Billy’s emotional journey rises and falls based on how he treats Freddy, and theirs is the strongest relationship in the film. In that, Freddy is not just the heart and soul of the film, but its most charming performer. He not only wins over the viewer with his motor-mouthed takes on history and family and most importantly superherodom, but he is, beneath his jibes and spunk, an earnest but wounded kid, who looks up to superheroes in part because they represent the opposite of his social perception. Grazer channels all of those complicated layers into one endearing package, no small feat for a child actor.
Eventually, the affection Freddy stirs and the epiphany he provokes in his foster brother is returned, as Billy defeats the bad guys not just through a show of force, but by sharing his powers with his new family. It’s a delightful twist, one that gets lost in a characteristically overextended and occasionally exhausting series of third act action sequences, a pathology even the light-hearted *Shazam!* cannot fully escape.
Even there, the film succeeds with levity, charm, and earnestness. Life is not all grim reflections and brooding shades of gray. Sometimes it’s poppy and colorful, with lots of laughs and irreverent slip-ups, while still reflecting the real pain and hardships that we all experience alongside those more joyous occasions. In that, *Shazam!* and *Birds of Prey* feel unexpectedly more mature than their sturm und drang counterparts, and despite their amusing exaggerations and winks to the audience, that much more real.
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