“Shazam!” is about a 14-year-old foster kid named Barry Batson (Asher Angel) who has run away from several foster homes in an attempt to find his mother. After a failed attempt to find his real mom, he is sent to another foster family with five other siblings, including Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Gazer). Freddy is a disabled foster kid who is obsessed with superheroes.
After saving Freddy from an attack by school bullies, Barry is transported to a lair where he is greeted by an old wizard (Djimon Hounsou). The old wizard chooses Barry to transport his powers to. All Barry had to say was the wizard’s name: “Shazam!”
After saying “Shazam!” Barry (Zachary Levi) turns into a man in a superhero costume. Over time he has to learn his powers, such as super-strength, being bulletproof and flying (the hardest to learn).
Despite this, Barry has to defeat a super-villain, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong). Thaddeus was a reject from the wizard after he almost chose a ball where he would be given all the seven deadly sins and the ultimate power. The wizard rejects him and tells him he’ll be nothing, something Thaddeus’ dad and brother say to him all the time.
Despite being a PG-13 movie aimed for kids in their low teens, “Shazam!” teaches viewers about the importance of family, even if they’re in a foster home. “Shazam!” could be a very important film for families who have foster children or children in foster homes because of the movie’s focus around adapting to a new family.
“Shazam!” is a very funny movie for both adults and kids. It has good action, the villain doesn’t want to kill people just to kill people, and doesn’t just hate Barry just because he’s a superhero. He has a proper storyline. There is a motive for almost all characters.