Shazam! The magic word for teenage entertainment Movie Rating 8 out of 10 Family rating It has an M rating with mild swearing, some disturbing gargoyle-like creatures that cause harm to humans, and superhero violence. Equivalent type movies would be Goonies or Poltergeist. With DC continually falling short of Marvel movies for entertainment, they have created Shazam to bring some fun back to the franchise. The movie is still about superheroes and of course super villains but does not come with DC's usually dark and grimy undertones. It has a good young cast, contains juvenile humour and is much more appealing than most of their stories and is suitable for older families. It carries themes that many youth/young adults can relate to such as being different, dealing with bullying behaviour, broken families and learning to deal with growing up. The story revolves around a teenage boy, Billy Batson, who has been through numerous foster homes after becoming separated from his single mother. In his efforts to locate his mother he falls foul of the police and is taken into custody and reassigned to another family. This household consists of five other foster children, each dealing with their own issues. However, Billy becomes friends with one of the boys, Freddy, who deals with a disability by being annoying to everyone. At the same time, there is an old wizard who has been given the task of keeping the supernatural bad guys under control. However, he is getting too old and is seeking a pure-hearted person to pass his powers on to. He is continually interviewing potential candidates but they have all failed the test that would qualify them for the power. One of these unsuccessful candidates is Thaddeus Sivana, who then does everything to obtain the power of the Wizard Shazam. Dr Sivana releases the seven deadly sins and as Shazam is nearing his end he recruits Billy to be the keeper of the power. This is done by calling out the word Shazam which turns Billy into an adult superhero. The movie then deals with Billy learning what superpowers he has as well as learning to act like the adult that he now looks. The adult Shazam is played with a childish innocence by Zachary Levi. The rest of the movie explores what can happen when someone acquires power without knowing how to use it, how it impacts on friendships and how to use it for the benefit of others rather than for selfish reasons. While watching the film I had the sense of seeing this before and in many ways, it is similar to 'Big' in which Tom Hanks becomes an adult overnight, or 30 Something with Jennifer Garner doing the same. In this movie, though Billy is able to change from a teenager into a superhero and back again by using the magic…