Shazam! (2019)
Shazam!
Probably the most comedic of the DCEU movies, Shazam! is often called DC’s Marvel movie. It’s full of comedy and light-heartedness, and plenty of jokes. Even though it has its dark moments, the entire movie is pretty colorful and hilarious, which absolutely makes the story so much better. Because Billy/Shazam is a 14-year old boy, the jokes and quirkiness throughout the movie help portray the character of Billy in a relatable way. In all of the superhero origin stories, we never see a hero who becomes a hero while he’s a young teen (except for maybe Spider-Man), and that’s what makes this movie so fun. We get to see a young teen, still in high school, try to figure out how to properly and responsibly use his powers. Zachary Levi perfectly plays the part of a kid in an adult's body, and he really makes this movie what it is. I’m not a huge fan of the demons in the story, and even though they’re cool, it makes the movie feel a little too much like a fantasy/sci-fi. Although we almost always see aliens in other superhero movies, this one feels like it could almost be a Harry Potter movie or something. Also, some of the story can be a bit confusing involving the council of wizards and transfer of power. Besides that, the overall acting, design, and music is pretty good. All the kid actors do a great job, and at the end, their superhero selves do a great job of acting exactly like they did when they were in their younger selves. The music is pretty good, and even though it’s not the strongest of superhero soundtracks, there are still several scenes where the score adds a lot of intensity and action to the scene. Probably my favorite scene of the movie is the car crash scene in the beginning, where you get the slow motion of the car being hit in the glass flying everywhere while all you hear is Bing Crosby singing “Do You Hear What I Hear?” in the background. To me, it’s one of the coolest and best shot/produced scenes in movie history. Anyways, I highly recommend this movie, and even though we only get to see a certain hero’s torso, I really like it, and it’s definitely worth a watch. This film is officially Berry Approved, so go see it now!