SHAZAM!

*** ATTENTION, THIS ARTICLE MAY HAVE SPOILERS REGARDING THE MOVIE "SHAZAM!" DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU ***

What a night Friday night was!

I entered the movie house knowing that my favorite actor at the moment, Zachary Levi, was portraying the superhero Shazam! as Billy Batson once an adult.

I was super excited, but also scared. How good would the movie be?

Warner Bros. started making superhero movies for Detective Comics (DC) in 2013 with the movie of Superman called Man of Steel. Having enjoyed the movie, I was looking for some competition with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), because let's be honest, even if Man of Steel wasn't the bestest of Superman movies, the quality and content was good enough to compete against any superheroic movie Marvel made, back in the day. However, the hope dropped when Batman VS Superman came out, followed by Justice League and somewhere in between Suicide Squad. What a fiasco these movies were. I am going to be honest and say out loud that I did not watch the rest of DC Extended Universe (DCEU) because I was 1. scared to be extremely disappointed, 2. I had heard bad critics from friends and critics themselves and 3. I was not happy with the casting of some characters such as the Joker, Batman and Flash (personal opinion).

I have to admit that I was glad that on April 5th, DCEU restored my faith with the capacity of creating an incredible world around the story of the superhero SHAZAM! (If you do not know him, click the following link.(https://antimodernsoul.wixsite.com/antimodernsoul/post/who-is-captain-marvel)

The movie starts with the story of Doctor Sivana as a child and how he once was called to be the Chosen One but failed to impress the Wizard Shazam. The scenery switches back to present day, where Billy Batson, 14, is an orphan from Philadelphia. After being in multiple foster homes, he ends up in a family with five other children. The parents used to be foster kids, and found each other (Adorable, I know!) He meets his new brother, Freddy Freeman, as well as sister Mary, whom you may know as Mary Marvel from the SHAZAM! comics. After being summoned by a wizard, he gains the powers of Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury, thus becoming the hero who will protect the Earth from the 7 deadly sins, SHAZAM! After Doctor Sivana acquires the information, he makes it his duty to find the Chosen One and obtain his powers. On his side, Billy struggles with his new strength and capabilities, fame, loneliness and the true meaning of family. Being confronted by his arch-nemesis, he has to choose between the limitless possibilities of having the life he always wanted or sticking by the side of his new family. For a fourteen year-old teenager, the choice is hard.

On a fanatic point of view, I was overjoyed by the final product of the movie. Being a DC fan before I was one of Marvel, the 8 year-old inside me almost peed her pants when the movie started. That, and I am in complete love with Zachary Levi... Yes, the guy from Chuck... Moving on...

On a critical point of view, the music could have been better. As discussed with one of my close friend who is a fanatic of superhero as much as I am, he made me realise that the music in DC movies is generally known to be good and remarkable. In the movie, "Eye of the Tiger", "Uptown Funk", "Humble" and Superman's theme song were played, but I do not recall hearing a SHAZAM! anthem, even if one is present and really good. I believe that they could have made the song more dominant in a movie of that kind. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9uCJjNWo8c)

The positive things about the motion picture is that the costumes and decors were well made. Did you know the movie was shot in freaking Toronto, Canada? Me neither. I was convinced it was shot in Philadelphia, since the protagonist's story is held there. Bravo for the convincing Production Team, BRAVO!

The costumes were all great. I mean, it is not hard to dress a young teenage boy, right? Pants, t-shirt, a beanie and we're all set. As for the costumes, they were good looking. Vibrant colors, amazing capes, the whole package in other words. There was a controversy going around about the fact that Zachary Levi could not have been able to fill in the costume, even though he had been training for the last year and a half of his life. He did confirm that the costume had fill-ins to over-exaggerate the muscles but still, quite enjoyable to look at...

The monsters, or what you would call the 7 deadly sins, were horrifying and for that, Bravo as well. I am not going to lie, I was scared and disgusted and impressed all at once. It was AWESOME. They all had different shapes and sizes and probably smells, and were equally terrifying to look at. They deserve their name. (Funny anecdote: I'm pretty sure the christian girl in me screamed "Jesus!" two or three times as the monsters would pop out of nowhere to scare their prey. Stuff happens... *embarrassed smile* )

The CGI was good too. I just had to mention it.

The storyline was good. It was not jumping from one thing to another unnecessaringly...

The jokes, oh boy, the jokes. I laughed all the way through the thing. It was hilarious. One one hand, you had Zachary Levi who delivered a brilliant performance of a fourteen year-old boy trapped in an adult's body, and the other hand, you had all these sinical, sarcastic, funny, dark, and free-lighted jokes, and most of them would appear at moments when one should not have laughed. Also, the chemistry between Asher Angel (young Billy Batson), Zachary Levi (adult Billy Batson) and Jack Dylan Grazer (Freddy Freeman) was pure and authentic and it brought a sentiment of love and friendliness, which brings me to my last point.

Marvel Family

The thing I loved the most about the movie was the theme of family and how when you stick together with the ones who love you the most, nothing can stop you. It was heart-warming and beautiful. The emotion of loneliness and despair were excrutiating since the first scenes; where Billy was struggling with his new foster home. All the pain was resolved with gratitude and joy to know that his five brothers and sisters had his back no matter what.

The movie was a good break from school and life in general and it was an hilarious 2 hours well spent. If you are ever looking for an activity to do this weekend or in the weeks to follow, I suggest this movie that deserves a 8/10. Enjoyable, light, truthful and funny for the whole family to see. Plus, you'll get a good laugh before the darkness dawns on us with the imminent arrival of Avengers: Endgame. Just saying...

Thank you all for reading and until next time little munchkins, SHAZAM!

Asher Angel (Billy Batson), Zachary Levi (SHAZAM!) and Jack Dylan Grazer (Freddy Freeman)