‘Shazam!’ has a lot of heart

Superhero movie stands out for its humor, innocence and courage

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The calendar appears Mondays through Saturdays in the “Life & the Arts” section. Items are welcome. Please email them a full week before the event to Managing Editor Dave Mason at dmason@ newspress.com.

TODAY

By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR

Holy moley!

Lightning really can strike twice in the right place.

That’s proven by “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” a sequel that shows the further growth of Billy Batson, the 17-year-old who becomes an older superhero when he yells “Shazam!”

The movie is funny (with phrases such as “Holy moley!”), dramatic, heartfelt and adventurous. It even has a dragon. Longtime comic book fans will recognize the Shazam superhero as the original Captain Marvel, who first appeared in Whiz Comics No. 2, published by Fawcett Comics in 1940. Marvel Comics later got the trademark when it created its own Captain Marvel in the 1960s. DC Comics started to license the Fawcett characters in 1972, bought Fawcett Comics in 1991 and renamed Captain Marvel as Shazam in 2011.

Whatever his name, this superhero stands out for his courage, love of his fellow foster family siblings and his good heart. Ventura native Zachary Levi continues to be the perfect choice to play Shazam/Captain Marvel (a teenager in a man’s body), and Asher Angel does a good job as the kid version of the same hero, Billy Batson.

Jack Dylan Grazer plays Freddy Freeman, Billy’s friend at the foster home. When Freddy yells “Shazam,” a bolt of lighting strikes him and turns him into the adult, superhero version, played by Adam Brody.

Mr. Grazer and Mr. Brody play their sides of the same coin in sincere, compelling ways. In fact, some of the best acting in the movie is by Mr. Grazer, who, along with Mr. Levi, brings a lot of heart to this film.

The other heroes are Pedro (D.J. Cotrona as the adult superhero version, Jovan Armand as the kid version), Darla (Meagan Good as the adult version and Faithe Herman as the kid version), Eugene (Ross Butler as the adult version and Ian Chen as the kid version) and Mary (Grace Caroline Currey as both versions). Ms. Good and Ms. Herman stand out for showing the same kind of enthusiasm and awe in their versions of Darla, and Mr. Armand makes Pedro someone most kids can relate to.

This time around, the foster home kids are having mixed results with their efforts to save the day in Philadelphia. They save lives, but can’t keep a big bridge from collapsing. But they have to put on their A game when Hespera (the talented Helen Mirren), Kalypso (Lucy Liu) and Anthea (Rachel Zegler) come to Earth to steal a magical staff and