The reviews for
Shazam! have arrived and, well, things are looking very good for the DC Extended Universe right now.
Aquaman found favour with critics and went on to earn over $1 billion at the worldwide box office, so the chances of the Zachary Levi led release being similarly successful seem very high, and opening weekend projects will no doubt start rising shortly.
As you can see below,
Shazam! is currently "Fresh" and while its score has dipped to 93% since last night after a total of 46 reviews have been counted, this is obviously a tremendous result!
According to the Critics Consensus, the movie features
"An effortlessly entertaining blend of humor and heart" and
"is a superhero movie that never forgets the genre's real power: joyous wish fulfillment." Those aren't words we would have ever heard associated with releases like
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and
Suicide Squad, which means
we've clearly entered a new era for the DCEU.
In related news, the Fandango preview screenings yesterday generated a $3.3 million gross which tops similar sneak peeks for
Aquaman ($2.9 million) and
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle ($1.8 million).
Did you get chance to see
Shazam! this weekend? If so, share your spoiler-free thoughts below.
Hit the "View List" button for a recap of reviews for the DC Comics adaptation!
The film also benefits from the terrific performances by both the adult and younger performers. Levi is a delight in the central role, hilariously conveying the goofy adolescent within the strapping body of his musclebound superhero. Angel and Grazer work together beautifully as the teenage boys bonding over their joy at discovering Shazam's powers, and Strong uses his fierce intensity and taut physicality to make his villain suitably fearsome even while providing subtle comic flourishes along the way.
SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter
Supes and Bats will never die, but in Shazam, a character who’s been around for seven decades and is only now breaking through into the mainstream, youngsters have a new family-friendly hero to call their own.
SOURCE: USA Today
There are so many moments that unfold in this film that will have you smiling from ear-to-ear at how perfect and clever they are, wether they're addressing familiar tropes, embracing the world and situation they're living in or simply turning the genre out a bit, the film is hardly a stale recreation of everything you've seen before and that's a beautiful thing. It also benefits from some genuinely rousing and heroic moments, some of which I simply can't spoil here (even if Funko already did). No matter how you slice it and despite any flaws in pacing or style, SHAZAM! is an absolute gem and a damn fun time at the movies. [9/10]
SOURCE: JoBlo
Thanks to a script filled with razor-sharp quips, a fully committed performance from Levi, and an unapologetic embrace its own goofiness, Shazam is an absolute blast. This is the kind of DC Comics film that Warner Bros. should have been making all along, and they've truly knocked it out of the park here -- Shazam is far and away the most fun I've had in a movie theater this year, and I can't wait to see more of this character in the future.
SOURCE: Spoiler TV
There are a few hiccups along the way but Shazam is undoubtedly another win for DC. It never quite reaches the bombastic heights of Aquaman or sheer gravitas of Wonder Woman but it’s got heart enough for all three, a good balance of humor and action, and near infinite potential for the future. I have no idea how this innocent, lovable boy ends up fitting into a larger DC universe but it’s going to be really exciting to find out. He’s a star.
SOURCE: io9
The filmmakers have added a twist by combining superhero action with the dramedy of Big - and some meta humor in a similar, if PG-13 vein as Deadpool - to craft an entirely enjoyable experience in Shazam!, even if at times it feels more like a hodgepodge of other movies. Still, fans of DC and superhero movies will no doubt want to check out Shazam! for its action and heart, and a delightfully fun time at the theater. [3.5/5]
SOURCE: Screen Rant
Shazam! is basically two movies in one. One with Levi and his wiseass foster brother (a fresh Jack Dylan Grazer), the other with Strong and all his snarling, computer-generated gobbledygook. And they both have the other in a headlock, wrestling for the soul of the story. I loved one, yawned through the other. It’s hard to be original when you want to be all things to every fanboy and girl, so the movie can’t help but feel like a bit of a compromise, a draw. What it should have done, had it not been so afraid of stepping outside of the parameters of the genre, is to have Strong’s Sivana take two steps back and push Levi two steps forward. It is called Shazam!, after all. Why not let the guy and his glowing lightning bolt shine? [B]
SOURCE: Entertainment Weekly
The hardest power to depict onscreen is the wisdom of Solomon, but Shazam! makes clever decisions, mixing middle school snark with disarming sweetness. And — yes — it delivers the requisite lightning-strike punch-’em-ups with considerable force. [4/5]
SOURCE: Empire Online
If the “Wonder Woman” and “Aquaman” movies represented DC Comics’ first big-screen steps away from the austere color palette of the Zach Snyder movies, “Shazam!” takes us deeply into primary colors in a single bound. There’s still a touch of urban decay and kitchen-table warmth on display — this is by no means Warren Beatty’s “Dick Tracy” or a candy-colored Cartoon Network production — but this new DC entry has a lovely lightness, both in the visuals and in its tone.
SOURCE: The Wrap
Ultimately, Shazam! is probably a little too mature for actual children and too childish for adults, but it’s serviceable enough to warrant a sequel that explores the good, clear ideas introduced in this one. Let’s hope people who are the right age, or at least mindset, make that one.
SOURCE: BMD
Shazam! is a lot of fun and it further proves how, in the wake of the success of Wonder Woman and Aquaman, DC’s movie future is indeed bright. Zachary Levi was born to play this superpowered man-child, delivering lots of laughs alongside sarcastic but amiable co-star Jack Dylan Grazer. After an awkward and obligatory opening, the latter three quarters pack some big surprises for comics buffs and offer enough mainstream appeal to win over new fans. While Dr. Sivana ties in nicely with the themes of how adults can influence children, this villain is ultimately little more than a means to an end for the story of a boy who must learn what it takes to be a (super)man. [8.8/10]
SOURCE: IGN
Yet the fact that everything Shazam does, from taking bullets in the face to popping in and out of his superhero identity by barking the word “Shazam,” seems both valiant and slightly daffy is part of the film’s change-up charm. “Shazam!” suggests that if you’re taking a superhero’s powers deadly seriously, you may not be totally connecting with the spirit of the comics. The movie says: You’ve got to giggle at this stuff. That’s part of the adventure.
SOURCE: Variety
Aquaman hinted a bold, new approach to DC's movies that doesn't try to emulate the MCU's successes. Shazam! makes good on that promise, waving goodbye to the grim-faced Batfleck years, leaving us excited about what they'll do next. The future looks bright. [4/5]
SOURCE: Digital Spy
But even for those of us who aren’t street-smart foster kids, and who have lived lives full of love and support, there’s a very human yearning and hope that we’ll find more people like us. That humanity is what Shazam is fluent in. And if we’re lucky, Shazam assures us, we can share a little bit of that magic, our magic, with others.
SOURCE: Vox
Yet Shazam!'s greatest strength is knowing superheroes were created as a wish fulfilment fantasy for lonely adolescents, and is all the more enjoyable when putting them centre stage.
Because while Shazam! might avoid many of the pitfalls that usually define DCEU offerings, there remains an insistence that more is more and since this is essentially a kids movie, dragging the plot out to a flabby 132 minutes is a staggering misjudgment. The finale, while admirably self-contained and small-scale, grinds on for far too long, a boring escalation of anti-climaxes that cumulatively dull the intended emotional impact. It’s a film in need of a tighter edit with a script in need of a sharper polish, an imperfect franchise-launcher that nonetheless represents significant progress for DC. [3/5]
SOURCE: Guardian
One of the best DC superhero origin films ever made, Shazam! is also one of the best and most fun superhero films from any company. Whatever your superhero sensibilities, you're going to love Shazam!
There are any number of movies about the magic of family — whether it’s the ones people are given, or the ones they find for ourselves — but each time Billy yells “Shazam!,” we’re reminded of something that Thaddeus hears on one of those godforsaken elevator TVs: “Family is more than just a word.” A lot more, it turns out. [B+]
SOURCE: Indie Wire
It might even be read as a commentary on DC’s attempt at rushing into an Avengers-style crossover film with the lamentable Justice League. But while the story of an extremely overpowered champion rising to challenge a one-dimensionally sinister baddie might seem like the epitome of simplicity, Shazam! is still a modern-day tentpole blockbuster, overburdened with backstories for both hero and villain and subtexts that it can’t (or won’t) fully articulate—occasional gunk in the gears of what might otherwise be a fast-moving machine.
SOURCE: AV Club
Unlike many of its contemporaries, this film has a final stretch that melds humor, pacing, stakes, and real joy in a way that had me grinning like I would never stop. Yes, Shazam! is the holy grail of superhero adaptations when it pulls off an engagingly staged, thrilling, and emotional climax. But even more than that, the movie does right by my good son, Billy Batson, the big brother that every superhero-loving kid needs.
SOURCE: Polygon
In a strange way, Shazam! feels and looks like the kind of superhero movie that Steven Spielberg might have directed in his heyday, or at least produced through his Amblin banner. That makes it not only completely different from most of its own company’s own recent offerings (it’s far superior to the overstuffed, sloppy, headache-inducing Aquaman), but lets it stand apart from the movies of the competing Marvel universe as well (although Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Billy/Shazam share some common ground). Sweet, full of heart, in love with its source material, and viewed almost entirely through the eyes of a child, Shazam! is a family superhero adventure in every sense of the word.
But, these are all minor quibbles when it comes to the bottled-lightning joyfulness of a standalone superhero movie with likeability and laughs to spare. Following the box-office smash of Aquaman, Shazam! puts the DCEU in a position of rude health, and this is probably its best film yet (sorry, Wonder Woman). In a word: magic. [4/5]
SOURCE: Total Film
The film doesn't remotely feel assembled to a franchise-building template: rather, it's jauntily at ease doing its own thing throughout, which is by turns infectiously silly and unexpectedly warm-hearted. [4/5]
SOURCE: Daily Telegraph
There’s also a running gag about a strip club that seemed a little retrograde for a current film. But, nitpicks aside, “Shazam!” is just a lightning bolt of unexpected joy that is certainly worth your time and money.
SOURCE: Associated Press
Fans occasionally refer to Shazam as “The Big Red Cheese” and this movie is very faithful to the spirit of that nickname. It’s warm and sentimental about blended families, and it sincerely believes in the importance of being a hero and doing the right thing. It’s got plenty of goofy kid-gets-to-play-superhero-for-real humor. And other than some friction between Levi and Asher’s performances, it all works. [8/10]