Just happened to notice that there was a “Fandango early screening” of Shazam at our local theatre tonight so I took the family. No spoilers but everyone enjoyed it a lot.
A couple of fun Mortal Kombat references (they play MKX in one scene) and even a Street Fighter reference that you would miss if you blinked but surprisingly had most of the theater laughing.
The trailers give you a pretty good idea of the tone of the movie. If you are someone who thinks Marvel movies are ruined by humor and all films should be The Dark Knight then do yourself a favor and don’t see it. Humor is an essential element, and there are definitely some hokey scenes. But my kids (11 and 7) were having a ball the whole time especially my 7 year old girl. But my wife really liked it too. It’s not “kiddie humor” - not a bunch of ■■■■ jokes and people hit by pies. I actually enjoyed a lot of the jokes and laughed out loud, which is unusual for me in a theater. Probably the best comparator is Into the Spider Verse - some wacky humor but also some pretty sophisticated stuff too. I would say it’s aimed at a young teen audience. Some language and violence and a few risqué moments and references, but pretty family friendly for this day and age. Some elements would sound cheesy if I related them in text but they were handled really well and the kids were really into the payoff. If you are familiar with the history of the source material it all comes together nicely and is reasonably true to the source, at least in my opinion.
Definitely I enjoyed it more because the family did. But it has some clever ideas, good special effects and some nice pacing. The final battle feels earned but it’s not a giant cgi end of the world, city destroying apocalypse like every DC movie and most marvel movies seem to devolve into. It would do way better than most on the “dollars of damage” category. I would definitely recommend it if you have interest in a relatively lighthearted super hero story. We will likely see it again.
It’s also endlessly amusing that “Captain Marvel” was playing in the theatre next door. For like 80 years, zero Captain Marvel movies and now two at once.