Shazam! (2019) (1 Viewer)

[Tino]

Are you surprised how much your future self loved the film?

Absolutely. I’m very happy to have been wrong!

 

[Doug Wallen]

Saw this with my family this past weekend. Best "fun" superhero movie I have seen in a long time. Everything about this one was just right. I felt that Zachary Levi did a great job portraying what "14" year old thinks an adult would act like. Sure did enjoy this film and will be happy to add this one to the collection.

 

[Voon Jiet]

Is Shazam! suitable for kids? It certainly appears that way from the trailers, but I intend to take my 5, 7 and 10 year olds and wonder if it might be too intense for the youngest one. So far, I have only brought him to animated features (Incredibles 2, Into the Spider-Verse) but this seems like a good entry point into "live action" movies.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Is Shazam! suitable for kids? It certainly appears that way from the trailers, but I intend to take my 5, 7 and 10 year olds and wonder if it might be too intense for the youngest one. So far, I have only brought him to animated features (Incredibles 2, Into the Spider-Verse) but this seems like a good entry point into "live action" movies.

Yes, the film is suitable for kids.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Is Shazam! suitable for kids?

Mostly I would say yes, but be aware that there are some intense and occasionally violent action sequences involving the villains. Although I certainly don't always agree with everything that they do, the MPAA rating is "PG-13 for intense sequences of action, language, and suggestive material." There are also a few loud sudden jump scares, which I wasn't expecting with this film going in.

On another note because I haven't posted in here since seeing the film, I liked it a lot but I found it a bit clunky in the first hour. It has a lot to set up and goes from tone to tone, and main plot to subplot and back again, a lot. I don't really know what you could cut from it because all of the information in the opening section ends up being important to understanding what happens later in the film. But it certainly became more consistent and cohesive later on in the film.

Zachary Levi was great, and not too far away tonally from his breakout role as Chuck, which I loved. It was great seeing him in that wheelhouse again and I loved that it embraced the fun of being a superhero. The young cast members were wonderful too, and it was easy to believe that Levi and Asher Angel were the same person. Angel actually had most of the more dramatic beats for the character and played them all really well, while Levi got to be wide-eyed and excited. Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy stole the scenes he was in, but really all of the supporting kids were really terrific, and they made me believe the family dynamic. Mark Strong is doing his Mark Strong villain thing that he does a lot, but he does a good job of it, even though the role as scripted doesn't give him a ton of development beyond his origin story. He was certainly a credible threat and felt genuinely scary.

As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed it and look forward to getting the Blu-ray.

 

[Malcolm R]

Is Shazam! suitable for kids? It certainly appears that way from the trailers, but I intend to take my 5, 7 and 10 year olds and wonder if it might be too intense for the youngest one. So far, I have only brought him to animated features (Incredibles 2, Into the Spider-Verse) but this seems like a good entry point into "live action" movies.

Here's a link to the content advisory at IMDb.com. Sounds like some of the violence could possibly be a bit intense for the youngest:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448115/parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg

Yes, the film is suitable for kids.

Even the

Spoiler

head-chomping/decapitation scene?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Here's a link to the content advisory at IMDb.com. Sounds like some of the violence could possibly be a bit intense for the youngest:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448115/parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg


Even the

Spoiler

head-chomping/decapitation scene?

Yes,

Spoiler

No Blood and it's just one scene with a CGI character doing the head-chomping early in the film.

 

[Thomas Newton]

Mostly I would say yes, but be aware that there are some intense and occasionally violent action sequences involving the villains.

Also on one occasion,

Spoiler

while playing the role of super-powered street performer, Billy carelessly brought down lightning that nearly caused the deaths of an entire bus full of people.

 

[Thomas Newton]

On another note because I haven't posted in here since seeing the film, I liked it a lot but I found it a bit clunky in the first hour. It has a lot to set up and goes from tone to tone, and main plot to subplot and back again, a lot. I don't really know what you could cut from it because all of the information in the opening section ends up being important to understanding what happens later in the film. But it certainly became more consistent and cohesive later on in the film.

I don't follow the comics, but my impression is that the comics version of Dr. Sivana is a super-scientist – someone who is able to pose a threat to the Marvel Family even without using magic. He's not above using magic, but it's not his main thing.

This Sivana struck me as a thug who was dependent on the power of the Seven Deadly Sins to be a major villain. That's a pretty major change from the "well known" backstory. If you were making a Batman vs. Joker movie, you could skip over Batman's and Joker's origin stories; everyone knows the basics by now. But this Sivana was basically a new character who needed some exposition.

 

[Malcolm R]

Yes,

Spoiler

No Blood and it's just one scene with a CGI character doing the head-chomping early in the film.

I'm still thinking that might be a little intense for 5-7 year olds.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm still thinking that might be a little intense for 5-7 year olds.

IMO, maybe of an earlier era of 5-7 year olds, but not today.

 

[Sean Bryan]

Also on one occasion,

Spoiler

while playing the role of super-powered street performer, Billy carelessly brought down lightning that nearly caused the deaths of an entire bus full of people.

Yeah

Spoiler

but then he CAUGHT IT!

.

 

[benbess]

Good enough. "B"

 

[David Weicker]

I don't think is OK for younger kids.

And not because of any of the action/violence.

The two 'parent' scenes are not appropriate for kids.

Spoiler

The movie starts out with graphic child abuse (verbal). And then there's the Mother abandonment without remorse that is pure real life evil.

 

[Thomas Newton]

I don't think is OK for younger kids.

And not because of any of the action/violence.

The two 'parent' scenes are not appropriate for kids.

Spoiler

The movie starts out with graphic child abuse (verbal). And then there's the Mother abandonment without remorse that is pure real life evil.

Consider Hansel and Gretel:

1. After remarrying, father abandons two children in the woods.
2. A witch tries to burn these children alive.
3. The children successfully return the favor.
4. Father takes children back.
5. Everyone (except the witch) lives happily ever after.

In real life, the kids would have abandonment issues, PTSD, and related issues for the rest of their lives. The Government would place them in foster care and prosecute their father for criminal child neglect. But this story is considered appropriate for little kids – more so for them, than for adults!

 

[Jason_V]

Consider Hansel and Gretel:

1. After remarrying, father abandons two children in the woods.
2. A witch tries to burn these children alive.
3. The children successfully return the favor.
4. Father takes children back.
5. Everyone (except the witch) lives happily ever after.

In real life, the kids would have abandonment issues, PTSD, and related issues for the rest of their lives. The Government would place them in foster care and prosecute their father for criminal child neglect. But this story is considered appropriate for little kids – more so for them, than for adults!

This. Every fairy tale out there is dark, morose and full of death. Yet, like Thomas mentions, they're good for kids. Is it because good triumphs at the end? Is it because these have been in our culture for a good long time? The animated and live action "Cinderella" movies both showcase a young woman being abused by her step mother and step sisters. The animated "Snow White" starts with a step mother telling a man to kill a girl and bring back her heart. Is the difference live action vs. animation? I don't know.

I saw movies on my own which were far, far, far worse in the 80s. Jaws, Poltergeist, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc. They scared the ever-loving crap out of me before I was six years old and I didn't have a parent or guardian watching with me.

 

[Hanson]

The movie was fine, it had a few laughs and I enjoyed

Spoiler

the reveal of the Shazam Family, even though they didn't do much with them.

The part of the film that didn't connect with me was Zachary Levi performance, which was too goofy and didn't match Asher Angel's Billy Batson at all. They take pains to set up Billy as this serious, street smart, practically glum loner who only cares about finding his mother. He says "Shazam" and all of a sudden becomes a goofball doofus. In the introduction, Billy convinces a couple of cops (and the audience) there's something they need to investigate in a store, but later as Shazam he can't even pretend to be Freddy's dad without becoming a sputtering buffoon. You would think having powers and an adult body would give him huge advantage in looking for his mom. But Shazam doesn't care about those things -- instead he wants to walk around charging people's cell phones. Billy Batson is never shown flossing or doing anything remotely like that, but Shazam does. I found it a lazy riff on teenagers -- Asher Angel plays Billy something like a real 14 year old, but Levy turns Shazam into something like a dumb six year old.

And while this sounds like a nit pick,

Spoiler

The bus scene was really poorly constructed. Billy causes the bus accident with his carelessness and causes clear injuries, yet there are zero consequences. Why he doesn't fly up and put the bus back on the bridge instead of just standing there pleading with gravity makes no sense, and from a physics perspective, there's no difference between crashing on the pavement below and being caught by a super strong guy -- a sudden stop in momentum is a sudden stop in momentum. That entire scene really bugged me because it felt really dumb and lazy and it wasn't the only one, just the most glaring one.

I'd give it a C+

 

[Hanson]

Two off the top of my head are:

1. Zachary Levi himself (played one of the Warriors 3 in Thor: The Dark World), and

2. Lawrence Fishburne (Perry White in MoS & BvS: DoJ and Dr Bill Foster in Ant-Man and the Wasp)

I’m excluding non-MCU films like Daredevil which starred Ben Affleck.

Randall Park in Ant Man and Aquaman

 

[Joe Wong]

Randall Park in Ant Man and Aquaman

Nice addition! I had forgotten Randall was in Aquaman.

 

[Edwin-S]

Well, I had a few laughs watching this movie. It had a lot of humour and therein lies the problem. It was the way the humour was derived that becomes an issue because it impacted the characterization of the main lead. I found it strange how Billy Batson as an actual kid acts more like what a 15 year old would really be like than when he is Shazam. The actor that played Batson as a teen plays him pretty straight and seriously. He actually did a better acting job than Levi did as the "adult" Shazam. It became problematic that Batson, as Shazam, turns into a complete 12 year old goofball while in his teen form he comes across as a somewhat troubled teen.

The film was entertaining but the characterization for Batson was pretty badly done as far as consistency goes. It was hard to believe that a fairly serious character as an actual teen would turn into a 12 year old moron in a spandex suit. From just the standpoint of humour, the film is probably a B, but if the spastic characterization is accounted for then the overall quality of the film is probably a C.