The first "Shazam!" trailer

This is it.  What we have been waiting for since 2002.  The Shazam! trailer.



I was completely underwhelmed by it.  Visually, it was too bland and generic. It looked like it was a big screen version of one of DC's CW TV shows.  Content was just as bad. It appears as if the studio is aiming for this to be a G-rated entry level film for children into the larger DCEU. There were a lot of attempts at humor, all of which fell flat. I didn't think any of the jokes were particularly funny. This is definitely not the G-rated version of Deadpool that word of mouth indicated several weeks ago. It's not even DC's version of Ant-Man.  If anything, this is more along the lines of Sky High.

I will say Asher Angel, as Billy Batson, impressed me.  I didn't think he could do it, but he was able to keep up to the level of the more celebrated and critically acclaimed Jack Dylan Grazer, as Freddy Freeman. Zachary Levi, on the other hand... well, let's just say he goes into full Freaky Friday mode, and that is not what Captain Marvel is about. But this movie is not about Captain Marvel.  It is about New52 Shazam, and the trailer looks as if it is going to be one of the most faithful adaptations of a comic book ever. If this trailer is any indication, the final product could be a live action version of a motion comic.  The big problem is, "Curse of Shazam" is the most wrong comic to be so faithful to. It is divisive, the antithesis of what the Captain Marvel character is, and the majority of long time Captain Marvel fans abhor it. I think the average viewer over the age of 17 will find Levi's performance obnoxious after about 10 minutes.  Plus there is the fact his face looks more like Dagwood Bumstead than any C.C. Beck drawing of Captain Marvel.

It's funny, a few days before this trailer dropped, I saw the teaser for Tim Burton's Dumbo.  It had the tone, the look, and the atmosphere I so desperately wanted for a Shazam! movie. After seeing the Shazam! trailer, I wish Tim Burton was signed to direct Shazam! and David Sandberg was signed to direct Dumbo. Even so, the biggest problem is that it's based on Geoff Johns' work, and you can add butter and garlic and seasoning to a plate of shit, but it's still going to be a plate of shit. And that is what DC is serving us.