Shazam is the DCU's answer to Marvel's GOTG; i.e. a fun comic book tale with lots of humor geared to younger viewers. Unfortunately, it has little of the GOTG wit and story telling; thus making it a slow watch for adults. Most of the movie is Billy exploring his new powers. Sure that's fun for a while, but it gets old pretty quickly; particularly since the best gags were given away in the trailers.

The third act is a mess with a lot of shifting venues and repetitive action. You get the impression of a bunch of FX people sitting around pitching ideas like "Heh, it would be really cool if they fought at a Carnival!", and everyone said "Yeah, great idea! Put that in".

Mark Strong is great in this film. One of the best comic book villains ever ... well maybe not as good as Loki from Thor I, but he's up there. Also the resolution to the main character's plot line is very touching. Its great how they tie everything together in the climax. I just wish they had made the journey to that point a little more entertaining.