By Melissa Antoinette Garza
I planned on loving this movie. I planned on loving this movie so fucking much….and it exceeded my expectations, motherfucker! It was great.
The movie begins with baby Billy being lost at a carnival. He’s put into the foster system and never stops looking for his mom. Eventually, Billy (Asher Angel) is moved into a group foster home with a loving couple. Victor (Cooper Andrew) and Rosa Vasquez (Marta Milans) grew up in the system themselves and now give back by providing a home for many children. It’s definitely not about the Benjamins for these folks. It’s about LOVE and that’s really cool. They are a solid unit and the kids that live there are charming and sweet.
Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) is Billy’s foster brother, roommate and becomes his best friend. I love Freddy. I do. I want to adopt this kid. He’s got a bum leg and is bullied in school. Still he keeps his sarcasm, his wit and even a love of life that Billy doesn’t have at first. He’s just a cool kid and my favorite out of all of them. He also is knowledgeable about superheroes which comes in handy later.
The rest of the house is made up of Mary (Grace Fulton) a senior who is about ready to go to a college which makes Victor and Rosa both proud and sad. Next is Pedro (Jovan Armand) a big guy of few words, but a solid dude nonetheless. He has trouble in school and with his self-esteem, but is a great brother to the bunch. Next is Eugene (Ian Chen) who loves video-games and tries to step up to the plate and help when he can though he usually injures himself. Last is the youngest Darla (Faithe Herman). She’s a hugger, looks at every newcomer as her sibling and she’s cute AF; not Olsen Twin cute either. You know, the type of cute where everyone else says, “they’re cute” and you go along with it because you know saying you want to punch a toddler isn’t PC. NO! Darla is LEGIT cute – super super LEGIT cute. I love her.
Billy doesn’t warm up to them right away. He’s still hooked on finding his mom. Meanwhile, a Wizard (Djimon Hounsou) is trying to find a protégé to fight against the evil beings he currently controls. He tests a bunch of kids over a few decades, but none meet the requirements. One of these kids is not happy with being turned away. He grows up to be Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong) and he takes control of the evil magical entities that the Wizard had been shielding everyone against.
Knowing there’s a time-crunch, the Wizard steps up his A game and when Billy defends Freddy against some bullies, he becomes the chosen one (Zachary Levi). He emerges an adult in a superhero costume with powers he’s uncertain of. Vic and Rosa just assume Billy ran away. When he comes back, he goes to Freddy first. The two go out and have a blast. They bond and start to discover what Billy’s capabilities are though sometimes Freddy nearly kills him making for some hilarious moments. Through the journey, Billy finds out what true family is.
SHAZAM! (2019) is a film with heart, great characters, fabulous dialogue and is mostly just a lot of fun. The cast is absolutely wonderful all around. Both Levi and Angel portray Billy in a believable way. Regardless of the actor on screen, it feels like we’re watching the same character. That’s important. Sometimes in flicks where two people are playing one person, there’s a disconnect between the two, but here it flows marvelously well.
Mark Strong is also terrific. He shows Sivana as a hardcore cool villain who lost his sense of right and wrong years ago. He plays up the great backstory by conveying the anger that grew within him for years. Whether at his family, the wizard for denying his power or Billy for getting the powers, Sivana is shown as a devious opponent who will stop at nothing to win, even if that includes hurting children. That said, his outrage is somewhat warranted. Though it’s quite often misplaced, he did have a douche-bag brother and prick father.
All of the child actors did fabulously well. This is the second film in a few days where children played an intricate part (the other being US [2019]). Both times, I’m blown away by the performances. Though all were fantastic, Grazer was just beyond brilliant. I loved him in IT (2019) and this character is so different than Eddie Kaspbrak. Though both Eddie and Freddie were picked on and bullied in school, it astounds me how different Grazer played them. Whereas Eddie is neurotic, scared and bratty; Freddie is fun, rebellious and wants to be cool. Eddie just didn’t want to be beaten up. Freddie wants more. The subtle nuances in the two prove how versatile Grazer is. Watch out for that kid. He is going places!
There is just so many funny moments in this. In one, we have a cool homage to the film BIG (1988) and there’s a Santa who goes absolutely nuts.
The action and pace are also splendid. The ending showdown is done marvelously well and the villain is an interesting one.
I can’t suggest this enough. I actually want to go back and see it again in the theater before it hits DVD and digital. Compared to other superhero films, it’s far better than CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019) and AQUAMAN (2018). I’d say it sits along side of THOR: RAGNAROK (2017) and VENOM (2018) on the entertainment scale. It’s absolutely fabulous.
If you don’t enjoy it, that’s on you, buddy because they did everything right. Get better taste and try it again.
Also, there’s two after-credit sequences so be patient and stay until the end.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8.5/10
