The Shoemaker Bugle

By Muna Agada

Synopsis:

Billy Batson, aka Shazam, and his family are still juggling with the powers they were bestowed upon and the responsibilities that come with it. When a trio of vengeful daughters of Atlas come into Billy’s world looking for the magic that was stolen from them from the wizard, Billy and his family must band together to try and stop them.

The Good:

I really liked this cast, the chemistry that you could feel between all of the characters was really believable and really enjoyable. The acting in this was good–everybody was really giving it their all, and you could feel that everybody there wanted to be there. Without good cast chemistry, the project could really suffer but this one didn’t. And you could feel the love that the people in charge of it put into this project.

The “villains” in this film were a lot more powerful, which did bring a bit of a challenge to the heroes of the movie. I also loved that we got to see more of the adult versions in this movie, because we didn’t in the first; and their chemistry was good. In this movie, the adult counterparts were really my favorite aspects of the movie. The graphics and cinematography of this movie were really good and visually beautiful. 

The Bad:

It definitely feels as if this movie did lose a bit of the appeal that made the first movie such a blockbuster in the first place–the first movie just wasn’t a typical superhero action movie, but it also had serious family topics in it. I’m not saying the family aspect isn’t there, because it is; it just felt not as prominent, more like a side piece then the main one.

The villains in this movie weren’t nearly as impactful as they were in the first one, they were definitely stronger and more powerful, but at the same time not nearly as menacing. I felt like the kids were barely in this movie, because the adults were there more. They had to cut down on the kids, which was a shame because they were the biggest reasons why the first movie was loved. The only kid that was really there was Jack Dylan Grazer’s character (Freddy Freeman). Also, as much as I love this cast, it is nearly too big. Because it’s so large, a lot of the characters were not fleshed out at all and came out a little more two-dimensional (or even one) than three-dimensional.

My last point would be–what in the actual world was Wonder Woman doing in this movie? I mean, yeah, she was brought in because she’s a goddess, and she could restore everybody’s powers and bring back Billy in the process (which I had an issue with too–like how are you guys, really, going to kill the main character after only two movies, like stop! I mean, they brought him back, but they should have never done the whole death scene in the first place). But you guys really brought in Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), so she could be in the movie for like a hot minute and then dip? It made no sense to me and honestly seemed like a lazy copout to try and just end the movie on a happy note.

Even though I did say that the death scene wasn’t needed and I didn’t like it, I respected it because it brought some realism to it–like how not everything is always going to have a happy ending.

---

This movie wasn’t bad, I just expected more. It definitely felt like every other superhero DC movie, and the first Shazam was so much more than that. Also, side note: This movie wasn’t nearly as bloody as the first one, which was disappointing.