Directed by David F. Sandberg. Starring Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Grace Fulton, Cooper Andrews, Marta Milans, Djimon Hounsou, John Glover, Faithe Herman, Ian Chen. (PG-13)

Foster teen Angel is chosen by an ancient wizard (Hounsou) to be imbued with superpowers (and the form of adult Levi); he mostly uses those powers to show off and garner attention, until crossing paths with powerful supervillain Strong. Slightly above-average DCEU outing is still little more than a series of professional-but-unspectacular special effects surrounding the familiar story beats of an origin story character arc. A sense of humor helps, though the jokes are only sporadically amusing, and the irreverence is poorly matched with a dismal long-lost mother sub-plot and a humorless, weakly-developed villain. A running joke is that Angel/Levi doesn't know what all he can do in "Shazam form" and keeps figuring out new powers...but does he have any "weaknesses" at all (besides threats against loved ones)? At least this seemingly invincible champion has a playful side sorely missing in the DCEU version of the Man of Steel. In between the inexcusably drawn-out introductory passages and an overextended series of (anti-)climaxes, there are isolated moments of joy and pizzazz, but not enough to heroically save the day.

49/100