3 outta 5

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a fun sequel to the fantastic first film. Fury may be missing some emotional depth that made the first Shazam! surprisingly winning, most of the jokes in the first film were funnier too, but this is still a solid movie. It ups the spectacle by making the first film seem almost cheap in comparison considering how Fury throws out multiple magical creatures and a whole lot of lightning fights. This has a great progression of things going wrong for our heroes and a couple of decent character moments stuffed in between wide-screen superhero magical chaos. Any movie where unicorns are not only real but actively deadly is certainly interesting.

Teenager Billy Batson (Asher Angel) with the magical word “Shazam” can turn himself into a lightning slinging superhero adult, Shazam (Zachary Levi). Billy’s adopted family can also turn into superheroes as well like his foster brother Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer as a kid and Adam Brody as the adult), his foster sister Mary (Grace Caroline Currey as both the teenager and adult), and other kids. These kids with superpowers living under one roof is unknown to their foster parents, Victor (Cooper Andrews) and Rosa (Marta Milans), although the dad is getting suspicious the house keeps getting struck by lightning. The arrival of Greek Gods, the daughters of Atlas, Hespera (Hellen Miren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu), turning people into stone is giving the Shazam family a headache, and the new student that Freddy makes friends with turns out to be another Greek God, Anthea (Rachel Zelger). Now Freddy has been kidnapped, depowered and locked in a cage with a surly Wizard (Djimon Hounsou), and the Shazam family has to figure out how to stop the rampaging Gods.

Fury of the Gods is different from the first Shazam in a few key ways. It jumps in right with everyone already superhero-ing so it doesn’t evolve teenage foster home jumper Billy Batson to superhero. There are lots of funny bits in the original with Shazam and Freddy testing his powers. Also, the story about Billy trying to find his mom was very emotionally affecting. Fury of the Gods starts off as a spectacle superhero movie and mostly stays that way. The emotional story in this film is Shazam trying to let go of his family but it isn’t as compelling as the original. Billy Batson is almost a guest star in his own movie. That means there’s a lot of Levi acting like a kid with superpowers and a couple of funny lines. He’s still entertaining as the big red blur and every once in awhile Levi shows the wounded kid underneath the hero. But it is missing the push and pull between Freddy and Billy that drove the first film.

This film, however, does do a great job of going bigger with the scale. The opening action with the Shazam family taking care of a bridge that is collapsing has some great visuals and funny character moments like when the youngest Shazam family member saves the kittens from a car before the actual humans. The onslaught of baddies Kalypso unleashes on Earth are quite impressive, especially the unicorns who are reimagined as dark and disturbing steeds and the way the youngest Shazam kid subdues them is quite hilarious. There is also wooden dragon fighting which looks impressive and the final showdown with Shazam is dramatic. The finale features unsuspecting twists that enhances the drama, and the way it is finally resolved in the movie’s closing minutes features an unexpected arrival from the DC Universe.

Grazer’s hyperactive Freddy has some funny bits, like when he’s stuck in jail with a wizard who is just completely over this magic drama and Freddy keeps coming up with ideas to escape. Hounsou’s wizard is usually very dramatic but now he’s just annoyed he gave his powers away to some dumb kid which is hillarious. There’s a bit when Freddy is in high school being tormented by bullies and he runs into an undercover Anthea who is pretending to be a high schooler and Zelger and Grazer have sweet moments together. When Freddy tries to impress the new girl, he shows up as the superhero Freddy and Brody’s adult version is full of swager.

All the kids get in character moments as both the young and superhero versions, Currey as the superhero Mary has a fun bit where she’s sitting through a briefing by Shazam while she’s incredibly hungover. Milans and Andrews also get in some decent bits like when they realize their foster children are superheroes. But engaging character moments that the first film grooved on are just brief bits here. There is a lot of focus on Liu and Mirren as the daughters of Atlas, as they take away the power of the Shazam family. Mirren is stoic, however she does get in a funny moment when she reads a letter from Shazam and is completely confused, and she does some surprising stuff in the finale. Liu’s Kalypso starts off mean and pretty much stays that way, by the end flying a wooden dragon to blast the helpless kids. She at least pulls off menace rather effectively.

There may be not as many great character heartfelt and funny moments in Shazam: Fury of the Gods as the first time, but there is still a decent amount of fun to be had. It makes things bigger for the sake of bigger, but works well.

Teenager Billy Batson (Asher Angel) with the magical word “Shazam” can turn himself into a lightning slinging superhero adult, Shazam (Zachary Levi). Billy’s adopted family can also turn into superheroes as well like his foster brother Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer as a kid and Adam Brody as the adult), his foster sister Mary (Grace Caroline Currey as both the teenager and adult), and other kids. These kids with superpowers living under one roof is unknown to their foster parents, Victor (Cooper Andrews) and Rosa (Marta Milans), although the dad is getting suspicious the house keeps getting struck by lightning. The arrival of Greek Gods, the daughters of Atlas, Hespera (Hellen Miren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu), turning people into stone is giving the Shazam family a headache, and the new student that Freddy makes friends with turns out to be another Greek God, Anthea (Rachel Zelger). Now Freddy has been kidnapped, depowered and locked in a cage with a surly Wizard (Djimon Hounsou), and the Shazam family has to figure out how to stop the rampaging Gods.

Fury of the Gods is different from the first Shazam in a few key ways. It jumps in right with everyone already superhero-ing so it doesn’t evolve teenage foster home jumper Billy Batson to superhero. There are lots of funny bits in the original with Shazam and Freddy testing his powers. Also, the story about Billy trying to find his mom was very emotionally affecting. Fury of the Gods starts off as a spectacle superhero movie and mostly stays that way. The emotional story in this film is Shazam trying to let go of his family but it isn’t as compelling as the original. Billy Batson is almost a guest star in his own movie. That means there’s a lot of Levi acting like a kid with superpowers and a couple of funny lines. He’s still entertaining as the big red blur and every once in awhile Levi shows the wounded kid underneath the hero. But it is missing the push and pull between Freddy and Billy that drove the first film.

This film, however, does do a great job of going bigger with the scale. The opening action with the Shazam family taking care of a bridge that is collapsing has some great visuals and funny character moments like when the youngest Shazam family member saves the kittens from a car before the actual humans. The onslaught of baddies Kalypso unleashes on Earth are quite impressive, especially the unicorns who are reimagined as dark and disturbing steeds and the way the youngest Shazam kid subdues them is quite hilarious. There is also wooden dragon fighting which looks impressive and the final showdown with Shazam is dramatic. The finale features unsuspecting twists that enhances the drama, and the way it is finally resolved in the movie’s closing minutes features an unexpected arrival from the DC Universe.

Grazer’s hyperactive Freddy has some funny bits, like when he’s stuck in jail with a wizard who is just completely over this magic drama and Freddy keeps coming up with ideas to escape. Hounsou’s wizard is usually very dramatic but now he’s just annoyed he gave his powers away to some dumb kid which is hillarious. There’s a bit when Freddy is in high school being tormented by bullies and he runs into an undercover Anthea who is pretending to be a high schooler and Zelger and Grazer have sweet moments together. When Freddy tries to impress the new girl, he shows up as the superhero Freddy and Brody’s adult version is full of swager.

All the kids get in character moments as both the young and superhero versions, Currey as the superhero Mary has a fun bit where she’s sitting through a briefing by Shazam while she’s incredibly hungover. Milans and Andrews also get in some decent bits like when they realize their foster children are superheroes. But engaging character moments that the first film grooved on are just brief bits here. There is a lot of focus on Liu and Mirren as the daughters of Atlas, as they take away the power of the Shazam family. Mirren is stoic, however she does get in a funny moment when she reads a letter from Shazam and is completely confused, and she does some surprising stuff in the finale. Liu’s Kalypso starts off mean and pretty much stays that way, by the end flying a wooden dragon to blast the helpless kids. She at least pulls off menace rather effectively.

There may be not as many great character heartfelt and funny moments in Shazam: Fury of the Gods as the first time, but there is still a decent amount of fun to be had. It makes things bigger for the sake of bigger, but works well.

Teenager Billy Batson (Asher Angel) with the magical word “Shazam” can turn himself into a lightning slinging superhero adult, Shazam (Zachary Levi). Also Billy’s adopted family can turn themselves into superheroes as well like his foster brother Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer as a kid and Adam Brody as the adult), his foster sister Mary (Grace Caroline Currey as both the teenager and adult), and the other kids of his extended foster family. The kids with superpowers living under one roof is unknown to their foster parents, Victor (Cooper Andrews) and Rosa (Marta Milans), although the dad is getting suspicious that the house keeps getting struck by lightning. The arrival of Greek Gods, the daughters of Atlas, Hespera (Hellen Miren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu), turning people into stone is giving the Shazam family a headache, and the new student that Freddy makes friends with turns out to be another Greek God, Anthea (Rachel Zelger). Now Freddy has been kidnapped and is depowered and locked in a cage with a surly Wizard (Djimon Hounsou), and the Shazam family has to figure out how to stop the rampaging Gods and save their brother.

Fury of the Gods is definitely different from the first Shazam in a few key ways. It jumps in right with everyone already superhero-ing so it doesn’t have the long but well done move from teenage foster home jumper Billy Batson to superhero. There are a lot of really funny bits in the first film with Shazam and Freddy trying to test out his powers, and putting together montages of them experimenting. Also Freddy was enjoying being with Shazam as a friend but Shazam was just enjoying having superpowers and shooting off lightning from his hands. Also, the story about Billy trying to find his mom was very emotionally affecting. Fury of the Gods basically starts off as a spectacle superhero movie and sort of stays that way. The emotional story in this film is really about Shazam trying to let go of his family and move on but it isn’t as compelling as the stuff in the original film. Also, Billy Batson himself is almost a guest star in this movie as opposed to being a co-lead along with Shazam the first time. That means there’s a lot of Levi acting like a kid with superpowers and a couple of funny lines. He’s still really entertaining as the big red blur and every once in awhile Levi shows the wounded kid underneath the hero. But it is definitely missing the push and pull between Freddy and Billy that drove the first film.

This film, however, does do a great job of going bigger and better with the threats and the VFX. The opening action bit with the Shazam family taking care of a bridge that is collapsing has some great visuals of superhero car saves, and little funny character moments like when the youngest Shazam family member saves the kittens from a car before the actual humans. The onslaught of baddies when Kalypso unleashes it on Earth are quite impressive, especially the unicorns who are reimagined as dark and disturbing steeds that are terrors to the other monsters and the way the youngest Shazam kid subdues them is quite hilarious. There is also a lot of wooden dragon fighting which looks impressive and the final showdown that Shazam has with it is actually kind of dramatic. The finale features some unsuspecting twists that enhances the drama, and the way it is finally resolved in the movie’s closing minutes features an unexpected arrival from the DC Universe that pays off nicely.

Grazer’s hyperactive Freddy is good for a few funny moments, like when he’s stuck in jail with a wizard who is just completely over this magic drama and Freddy keeps coming up with ideas to escape. Hounsou is actually pretty fun as his wizard is usually very dramatic but now he’s just annoyed he gave his powers away to some dumb kid. There’s a bit when Freddy is in high school being tormented by bullies and he runs into a undercover Anthea who is pretending to be a high schooler and Zelger and Grazer have some sweet moments together. When Freddy tries to impress the new girl he shows up as the superhero Freddy and Brody’s adult version is full of swager.

All the kids get in small little character moments as both the young and superhero versions, Currey as the superhero Mary has a fun bit where she’s sitting through a briefing by Shazam while she’s incredibly hungover. Milans and Andrews also get in some decent bits like when they realize their foster children are superheroes. But overall, these character moments that the first film really grooved on are just small bits here in between the big spectacle. There is a lot of focus on Liu and Mirren as the daughters of Atlas, as they have the ability to take away the power of the Shazam family, although it does get a little confused which kid has powers and which ones do not as it happens so often throughout. Mirren is basically stoic, however she does get in a funny moment when she reads a letter from Shazam and is completely confused, and she does some surprising stuff in the finale. Liu’s Kalypso starts off mean and pretty much stays that way, by the end flying a wooden dragon to blast the helpless kids. She at least pulls off menace rather effectively.

There may be not as many great character heartfelt and funny moments in Shazam: Fury of the Gods as the first time, but there is still a decent amount of fun to be had. Levi is great as the hero and there’s always some decent quips or dramatic moments. It makes things bigger for the sake of bigger but it works well.