Shazam! Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs

3. It's Surprisingly Sweet & Poignant

Superhero movies often struggle with the emotional stuff, if only because the character-driven aspects so often feel lazy and arbitrary, as though tacked on while the screenwriter ticks off a list.

Thankfully that's not the case at all in Shazam!, and despite the obvious silliness of the story, it has a real, beating heart at its core which pays off splendidly.

Billy's tragic past and the struggle to accept his place in his new family forms the crux of the character's arc throughout the film, and though some might see its "family is what you make of it" theme as a tad corny, it feels earned and totally works.

Subverting a number of the cliches associated with character development in superhero films, Shazam! gives audiences a likeable, challenged hero who ultimately, like all of us, just wants the warm, familiar embrace of a stable family unit.