Shazam!

Faster than a speeding locomotive, than a speeding bullet and yes, fastly becoming a refreshingly fun forward step into the light for the DC universe. Thanks a good deal to Zachary Levi and his whimsical childlike wonder approach to being thrust into the world of heroism, and a large part also to the younger cast helping him flourish. Shazam! Brings while nothing greatly new to the landscape, something almost bizarrely new to the DCEU... humour, wonder and a sheer entertainment focused driven roll through another side of the usually bleak universe! While yes some lore plods along at the start, the momentum moves quickly as Billy Batson, split from his mother at a young age is desperate to find the family he lost. Along the path he finds himself passed from foster home to foster home, dealing with the usual troubles of coming of age(which is very much the overall tone of the film) one such incident leads him to a dashing escape and somehow lands him in the dark and mysterious cave of the..  wizards? Magic is hearby integrated into the DCEU and along with it the wizard Shazam, who gives one pure of heart boy the power to save the world! Alas Billy most come to grasps with the power inside, whatever that may be and inner conflicts as well as always a maniacal DC villain with his own gravitas full evil agenda!

Zachary Levi IS shazam.
No question, his whiole ordeal with jumping camps as he felt wasted on team Marvel was actually quite valid, he has the adolescent with muscles on lockdown and with such wild abundance of charm and sheer just outrageous shenanigans he brings to life the alter ego with such life that it feels like he stole every other Justice Leauges soul and was the shining sun that Superman oh, so should have been! Henry Cavill on stilts and just let loose! Billy Batson played by Asher Angel Carries the lead role well as a determined youngster trying to find his place in the world he plays it with a child hard done by in life and with a certain edge though through his actions still a warm gooey centre of heart and friendship! Which is also helped very astutely by Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) an equally hard done by foster kid. Though big difference, Freddy is a big fan of the DCEU big stars and with a big goofy smile his Child like view of wonder and awesome brings a very much needed viewpoint of the DC world. Kids like Freddy love these superheroes! And young Jack very much plays the slightly obsessive geeky superhero tutorial on legs with manic glee and makes you feel like you want to be that fan too (something Shazam actually makes you feel also!). While none of the other foster kids get nearly as much screen time, other than Darla Dudley (Faithe Herman) the littlest and cutest member of team Shazam who really elevates the sense of kid like innocence within the film! Each character does throw some element in before the film draws to a close. Mark strong is also in the film and doing what Mark Strong does best, scene chewing villainy and at his best with what he's got Dr Sivania is no Joker or Thanos but a simple getting revenge plot is very relevant to what Shazam is to the landscape! Not another all out brawl with Doomsday but a simple obstacle to pose a threat and defeat so Shazam can grow as a character and Billy a person. He plays that role well!

So, After aquman opened the money gates for DC I was half expecting the OG captain Marvel to SHAZAM DC back into the same slog of disappoint I felt it had started laying out with it's dark and hopeless universe lead by characters who deserved better. Zachary Levi gave the post JL world a sense of a kid picking up a comic book for the first time, the sense of amazement from the biggest screen presence of Christopher Reeve is much more accurate than the dour tones of Affleck and Cavill even on their best day. I get the sense that Levi likes the character enjoys playing the character and bringing him to life! While it cant be said that it reinvents the wheel, it doesn't need to! It showed me that at last DC seemed to understand how a wheel works and not to just copy Marvel but give the world something a but more light and breezy, no world terraforming machines destroying Metropolis..  Just a kid wanting to find a place in his own world, a coming of age film and a special dose of bombastic wizards and a lighting Bolt of Charm show that DC do know how to give the world a Hero! For those who felt fatigued in the past Shazam feels like a breezy, fun and lighthearted romp in the eyes of a kid becoming a full on superhero and learning that sometimes what it takes to be a Hero really is a good script, lot of fun and some child like wonder!