I never got around to this DC film when it first came back, but now that I’m coming back to it, I find it fairly satisfying. While there are certainly ways it could be better, it’s a fun, family-friendly superhero film with a lot of heart.
Billy Batson is a foster kid with a good heart that he tends to keep guarded, a frequent runaway who keeps searching for the mother he was separated from. He’s just been placed in a new home, but he soon discovers much bigger developments than new foster siblings or a new school—he’s handpicked by the last of an ancient order of wizards to be his champion. Suddenly imbued with an array of superpowers and a grown-up body he can inhabit and take off at a word, Billy is eager to explore his new powers but more resistant to take on the responsibilities that come with it.
There are of course other teen superheroes out there, and recent movies/shows have really leaned into the unique challenges that come with taking on a superhero mantle when your brain isn’t fully developed yet. Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and Kamala Khan are all kids who mean well and want to do what’s right, but they can also get overwhelmed and are easily distracted. They have a tendency to take on more than they can handle, and they have a hard time juggling school, superheroing, and their personal lives.
At 14, Billy is young even for a teen hero, and the fact that his secret identity comes with a whole adult body just makes that more obvious, not less. The film mines plenty of comedy from the Big-like premise of Billy goofing around as Shazam, testing out his new powers with the help of his hero-obsessed foster brother Freddy and using his adult appearance to buy beer (which he immediately spits out when he realizes how gross it is.)
Honestly, this part of the film is the least successful for me, because the disconnect between the teen Billy and the adult-looking Shazam isn’t bridged very well. More significantly, the disconnect is going in the wrong direction. Because of the many difficult experiences he’s lived through, Billy is mature for his age, always on the lookout for things to go bad and feeling the need to help others despite his own strong cut-and-run instincts. By contrast, Shazam acts even younger than 14—more like 10-12, I’d say. I rarely recognize Billy when he’s being Shazam. It could be argued that, as Shazam, Billy feels safer and more secure, so he’s better able to actually unwind and goof off, but I still think the balance is way off. While some of this is down to Zachary Levi’s goofy performance as Shazam, which often fails to match Asher Angel’s more honest performance as Billy, the writing doesn’t help.
That’s a big, important part of the film to take issue with, but a lot of what surrounds it is good enough that I can forgive the messier stuff, even if it still annoys me. Far and away, the best aspect of the movie is Billy’s growing relationship with his new foster family. The friendship between him and Freddy takes pride of place, but the rest of the family gets in on the action too, and collectively, they form the heart of the film. Their scenes together offer humor, drama, and heartwarming moments of connection, and it pays off in a big way in the third act.
Again, I’m impressed with Asher Angel (who I previously knew as Jonah from Andi Mack,) who does so well with Billy. It’s unfortunate that the nature of his superpowers means that Asher spends a lot of the film sidelined for the sake of Levi’s Shazam. The whole foster family is wonderfully cast—Faithe Herman is especially delightful as little Darla, and it’s fun to see Ian Chen (Evan from Fresh Off the Boat) pop up as Eugene. While Jack Dylan Grazer (recently Alberto from Luca) is undeniably good as Freddy, equal parts funny and charmingly awkward, his character uses crutches due to a nonspecified mobility disability. Mark Strong makes the most of the somewhat underwritten villain Dr. Sivana, and Levi’s strongest acting scenes come opposite him. Djimon Hounsou also makes a brief, largely wasted appearance as the Wizard; he seems to get cast often in throwaway genre-project roles that are beneath his considerable talents, and it’s frustrating. Give him more to do, Hollywood!
Warnings
Violence, scary moments for kids, language, a few suggestive references, brief drinking, thematic elements, and a nondisabled actor playing a disabled character.
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