Step aside, “Die Hard.” We have a new best Christmas movie. “Shazam!” is by far the top movie out of the DC universe in its latest series of caped crusader flicks.
“Shazam!” tells the story of orphaned 14-year-old Billy Batson (Asher Angel) who is chosen as someone “pure of heart” by the magic of the Rock of Eternity temple to inherit the wizarding superpowers of Shazam — exclamation point implied (Djimon Hounsou). Over the course of the film, Batson discovers calling out “Shazam” transforms him into a someone that looks like a jacked Jimmy Fallon (Zachary Levi), and he teams up with fellow foster kid Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer). Together, the duo endeavor to uncover the extent of his powers in arguably the film’s best montage sequence of tests from smashing a baseball bat into Shazam’s chest to lighting him on fire, all while Freddy films the slapstick fare and uploads the clips to YouTube resulting in Shazam becoming an Internet sensation. While our pubescent superhero is honing his super skills and showing off for tips and viral videos, he is called on to defend Philadelphia from the “Eye of Sin,” an embodiment of the seven deadly sins that possesses Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong).
Don’t mistake this movie as another DC Universe action flick. In reality, this movie is actually a buddy comedy between the superhero version of Batson and Freddy Freeman. Every moment that Zachary Levi is running shtick on screen is hysterical. Their undeniable chemistry culminates in dialogue that comments in an amusing way on the DC Universe and other superheroes. The pivotal discussion over whether going viral from superhero stunt videos supersedes the need to do necessary morally good work is also a compelling discussion that lends itself to loads of jokes between superhero Batson and Freddy.
From a storytelling perspective, DC Universe continues its obsession with tired origin stories. The entire subplot (and yes, it is a subplot by dint of the strength of the buddy comedy mechanic) concerning Billy Batson’s search for his mother and struggles within the foster system are scattered unnecessary sociological commentary better suited for an overwrought backstory prequel. While on the other hand, the actual plot of the movie hinges on the backstory on Sivana and how he came to be the villain we see on screen today. The desired parallel structure of the two pseudo-orphaned boys becoming men and “fulfilling their true potential” through visits to a wizard’s lair is strangely amateur when looked at against the side-splitting hilarity and successes of the rest of the film.
Spoiler alert: Ultimately, Billy’s mother’s abandonment does no real legwork in his development and is far outweighed by the love of his new foster parents and camaraderie of his fellow foster kids. Frankly, it’s 20 minutes of nonsense that doesn’t affect Billy as much as it seems DC wants it to be Shazam’s “Bruce Wayne in the alley with his parents” mechanic.
Secondly, DC needs to spend more dollars on their animation team or steal someone from Marvel. The CGI of this movie is bad – like “Wonder Woman standing atop the golden statue” bad. All the action sequences involving the Eye of Sin and the seven deadly sins as knock-off Harry Potter Death Eaters look terrible on screen and were actually yawn-inducing at many points, especially in contrast to the buddy comedy element that is much more effective in engaging the audience, regardless of age or any other demographic target. Every scene with the seven deadly sins embodied as smoke-becoming-gargoyle-like statues that come to life look like something out of Gumby or the cheap “realistic” plastic animals for sale at craft stores.
In many ways, the movie is a parody of the other over-serious superhero and wizardry movies as of late. You’ve got the Disney “Incredibles”-esque costume with a perfect twist: a cape; you’ve got two wizards’ magic energy fields colliding à la Harry Potter wand duel versus Voldemort; you’ve got the climax-fight in the theme park à la “Zombieland” (2009); and that’s just a small sampling of visually stale tropes the movie pokes fun at. “Shazam!” has all the trappings of early 2000s mash-ups like “Epic Movie” (2007), or “Date Movie” (2006), or “Disaster Movie” (2008), or the OG “Scary Movie” (2000). You get the idea: ensemble casts collecting all the best-hits of genre clichés and Frankenstein-ing them into a rollicking lovable monster.
So, why am I calling “Shazam!” the best new Christmas movie? For whatever reason, the film is set around Christmas, with a few Santa jokes mixed in. It feels like it was supposed to come out in December — but then again, “Die Hard” came out in July, and it’s one of the best Christmas movies ever.
It speaks to the strength of jacked-Jimmy-Fallon and Freddy’s onscreen chemistry that despite serious filmmaking setbacks with the action and CGI that “Shazam!” is a winner. The movie sets a new tone in the DC Universe flavoring a family comedy with some action sequences. The universe and box office stats have fated more “Shazam!” movies to come, and audiences will look forward to them.
Tyler Grant (@TyGregoryGrant) is a Young Voices contributor, who completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Taiwan. He writes movie reviews for the Washington Examiner.
