A fun, but surprisingly predictable, superhero movie. If you’ve seen the trailers for this film, or any superhero origin story, there’s very little here beyond what you’d expect. Despite that, Shazam (or Captain Marvel as he was originally known) is a nice twist on the formula. Aside from a couple dark moments, it’s generally fun and lighthearted, although not as funny as I thought it would be. The good guys are likable, but I still never really felt like Asher Angel and Zachery Levi were playing the same character. While Billy Batson was generally played as a jaded teenager, Shazam was portrayed as overly childlike. And while Billy was fairly clever, Shazam came off as a big doofus. Freddy was mostly likable, but he occasionally came off as a bit of a dick at times. The rest of their foster brothers and sisters could’ve used a bit more fleshing out, especially later on in the film where it would’ve had a bigger payoff. Mark Strong’s Dr. Sivana was serviceable as the villain. His origin story generated little sympathy for his character, and his evil plan just didn’t have high enough stakes to make stopping him seem all that dire. There is a mid-credit scene that’s worth sticking around for, but the post-credit one is skippable.
*** out of *****