Film review: Shazam

This cover actually is a scene from the film.

Of all the recent DC movies, this is the closest to the spirit of the Richard Donner "Superman." Unlike the others this one expresses the notion that, hey, maybe it's fun to be a super hero.

And the movie stays pretty close to the source material, orphan Billy Batson  turns into an adult and is given the powers of six Greek gods when he says the name Shazam. Meanwhile, villain Sivana wants Billy's powers for himself.

Most of the movie is spent on the gee whiz aspect of Billy and his foster brother Freddy Freeman trying out the new super powers in mostly adolescent ways. Let's buy beer, let's go to the strip club. It's all a lot of fun for them until the villain shows up. It's light, funny and the writers have a love of the original material. (though if he has the wisdom of Solomon, he really shouldn't be doing this stuff.)

Some niggling things, for copyright reasons, they go through the whole movie without giving him a name. I was just waiting for someone to slip and call him "Captain Marvel," and they never do it. If Sony can lend Spider-Man to Disney, can't Marvel let DC use the name Captain Marvel if only once of twice, then call him "Cap" from then on like they did in the comics?

Also he now has lightning powers, where did that come from? Granted it looks cool, but is it even necessary?

That being said, after years of reading the comics, it's a thrill to actually watch Billy get struck by lightning and turn into Captain Marvel.

Spoilers:

And some crazy trivia, in the comics Freddy Freeman and Mary Batson remain teenagers when they say Shazam, why do they turn into adults here?

And I knew his foster family would turn into Marvels by the end of the film from years of reading the comics, but my 11 year old said they gave it away in the trailers anyway. Hollywood, please, leave us some surprises.

As a Philadelphian I enjoyed the scenery, but kind of rolled my eyes at the inaccurate police cars and subway station geography. (not to mention you can't buy beer in convenience stores.)

But it's still a lot of fun and except for a few grisly deaths, kid friendly.