Shazam is like an ’80s and ’90s fun throwback, referencing, if not directly, at least in spirit, quite a few movies of that era — Jumanji, Jurassic Park, the Amblin movies, and there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to Big, which is, obviously, very fitting.
And if you had any doubt the era of filmmaking it was aping, you only have to wait for Natalie Cole’s This Will Be to play out over the end.
The kid actors are great, especially Grazer whose quick rhythm and mop of curly hair recalls a certain Seth Cohen from The OC — which makes a later cameo from Adam Brody pretty much perfect.
Levi is wonderful here, emitting the warmth, angst and confusion of a teenager so effectively, you could almost buy him as a young teen.
Shazam is a neutered kind of superhero movie in which the violence is over-the-top and not at all gory — one gruesome act is avoided by the camera’s quick pan-away. And the core message isn’t “world-in-peril”, it’s about family and belonging.
If Shazam is the direction DC is taking, not necessarily making all of its movies PG-rated zany bear hugs, but at least acknowledge that superhero movies have a wide audience who don’t all want a self-serious dirge, then the future is looking good.
Rating: ★★★½
Shazam is in cinemas from today.