Film: Shazam!

GENRE: Action Adventure

RATING: PG-13 for violence, language and suggestive material
RUNTIME: 2 hour and 12 minutes

STARRING: Zachary Levi (Chuck, Thor, Tangled, Heroes: Reborn)

Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes, Kingsman), Jack Dylan Grazer (It)

DIRECTOR: David F Sandberg (Annabelle: Creation)

WRITER: Henry Gayden (newcomer)

PLOT: A foster kid becomes a grown-up superhero by shouting ‘Shazam’

FULL DISCLOSURE: The trailer looked good and I loved Chuck.   

STORY STUFF: This was pretty fun. An entertaining cross between Big and Greatest American Hero. The discovery of powers and foster family relationships worked for me. Was okay with the main villain but the supernatural deadly sin beasts pulled me out of the movie. Luckily there is a lot of humour to counteract that. Over the last day or two I think they changed the movie rating from PG to PG-13. There is some excessive violence from the beasts and there are also a few references to a strip club that don’t sound very PG. Glad it’s been upgraded.

ACTING STUFF: Kudos to the casting department. Levi is fantastic as Shazam. He plays it perfectly – he’s such a kid at heart. I also loved the kid actors. Grazer is perfect as the ‘mentor’ for Billy Batson and his new found powers (also perfect adult version casting as well – reminds me of the exceptional casting look-alikes in This Is Us). Faithe Herman (This is Us) is simply adorable as the ‘best sister’ and almost stole the show. Strong plays a good villain and John Glover (Smallville) always shines as the worst father ever. Well done all around.

ARTISTIC STUFF: The action stuff is pretty good, but like I said, not a fan of the CG deadly sin beasts. I think this movie depends more on the actors and story than the bells and whistles and that’s a good thing.

VERDICT: Four stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You like the fun of Big mixed in with your superhero film.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Avengers: End Game

Film: Dumbo

GENRE: Family

RATING: PG for thematic elements and mild language
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 52 minutes

STARRING: Colin Farrell (Phone Booth, Minority Report, In Bruges)

Danny DeVito (Batman Returns), Michael Keaton (Batman, Birdman)

DIRECTOR: Tim Burton (Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands)

WRITER: Ehren Kruger (Arlington Road, The Ring, some Transformers)

PLOT: A baby elephant with large ears is seen as a freak until he can fly.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Only Tim Burton compelled me to watch this film.  

STORY STUFF: When I think back to the animated film, there was not much to that story. Burton expands it with Farrell as a veteran and Keaton as a rival circus owner wanting Dumbo for himself but it still didn’t draw me in. I really only cared what happened to Dumbo. Burton also fills his cast with interesting circus folk but they are pretty one-dimensional. They also suddenly love Dumbo but we are not shown why.

ACTING STUFF: Farrell does an admirable job in this film; he fits the role nicely. Keaton and DeVito chew the scenery but that was to be expected. I did not like Nico Parker who plays Farrell’s daughter and biggest Dumbo supporter. She got on my nerves a lot with her self-righteous tone. I also think Eva Green was miscast as Colette, the trapeze artist (and love interest?). I just find her creepy. She better at playing villains.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Dumbo is adorable. He’s the reason to watch the film. Lots of ‘aww’s throughout. Of course, the Burton-esque production design is also fantastic. I also appreciated that the animals didn’t talk and we didn’t have those racist crows. Smart choice.  

VERDICT: Two and a half stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You like cute elephants

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Shazam!