Fans have been waiting for the DC Cinematic Universe to lighten up and are applauding Shazam as a step in the right direction. Shazam is just Big in superhero tights. Only in the dour DC Universe does Shazam seem a joyful cry.
Shazam isn’t a revolution just a smart marketing ploy designed to appease those who want DC to be a Marvel light. Notice that it is the middle superhero film between Captain Marvel and Avengers: End Game. The fans who know their Shazam and Marvel history have two weeks to revel and school their clueless non-comic book friends on the delightful ironies of this juxtaposition and inside joke.
Shazam is just a kid’s picture. Zachary Levi, coiffed and beefed up with modest Tom Hanks echoes, does the child in adult body swap well, and the child cast is pretty game to play their parts, while all the adults are hip with the character downgrades, but this is just fluff with good CGI, all cutesy and inoffensive. As the upcoming End Game shows, everything eventually body swaps with the DC dark.
So enjoy the lark until the birdsong ends when the night comes on.
All photos courtesy of Warner Bros Pictures
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