That explains the 91% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes then.
This movie was worth seeing twice for me. Kellywand said something interesting in the Alien podcast about how children are not exposed to movie scenes they are not “ready for” as often anymore, because movies are so carefully calibrated for their target market, and it might not be an entirely good change because they don’t learn to deal with it. I thought this movie had a little of that that uncalibrated fright. Not too much, of course, but enough that I was pleased with it. And it’s also funny and I liked how the foster family was portrayed (I got strong Sound of Music vibes from them, too, with the oldest as Liezel and the youngest as Gretel.)
Very much felt this was a ‘kids’ movie overall, which makes the monsters and tough emotional scene feel a little awkward. That said, I’m pretty sure I’d watch anything with Chuck in it.
How in the WORLD did they not cast Morgan as the ‘adult’ green Shazam dude? It looked just like him!
Same.
Just saw it tonight, loved it. I don’t really know anything about the character at all so it was all new to me. My wife’s very superhero savvy but didn’t know much about him either. Good to see DC adjusting and actually making another good film.
I’ll echo the bits about this NOT being a kid movie, despite the marketing making it feel pretty safe. There was a terrified little girl near us and I felt really bad for her. Her dad kept her in the theater despite her obvious distress. What a dick.
Oh that’s so sad!
My nephew asked his parents today if he could see it again. He wants to know if he is ready for the scary parts this time. They’re like, it’s been like a week. Maybe when he’s older. At least they feel like maybe they didn’t’ scar him too badly, and he wanted to say. As a family we’ve left theaters before due to kids, so it’s not like we’re unwilling to.
Looks like I won’t have time to see this in theater, probably, but it’s on the list for home/stream release.
I quite liked it, it’s a “smaller” movie than most, plenty of heart, lots of laughs, went more comic-booky than I was expecting for the DCEU, don’t think it gains much from being seen in the big screen though.
It’s a solid, entertaining movie.
So sad to hear about the scary parts. It’s a perfect kid power fantasy setup.
I don’t think it’s all that scary for say a 13 year old. Younger than that, there’s one scene at least that’s rough…
Here’s my quick semi-spoiler rundown of the roughest parts in my mind (and based on the reaction of the poor little kids near me at the theater):
The car wreck at the beginning. That was quite a jump scare I thought, when the truck smashes into them, then it looks like the dad’s going to die right on the ground. Not too kid friendly, especially as they’re bullying and blaming the kid.
When the researcher woman touches the door and is disintegrated, leaving only her glasses.
The little girl near me repeatedly asked in terror, “What happened? What happened?”
When he goes into the boardroom and one of the Sins bites the guy’s head off. The whole scene would be pretty terrifying for a little kid.
Near the end when the main baddie tells a Sin to kill the little girl. Probably not a good scene for a little one.
Of those scenes, only the boardroom scene bothered my super sensitive 12 year old girl. She closed her eyes for a moment.
None of the others were a problem. I would take kids reasonably happily. But I would keep in mind the boardroom scene comes close to being a properly scary scene and make them look away. Especially for younger audiences.
Emotionally, I don’t think my 9 year old would do too well with:
The mother basically saying “I just abandoned you” and then not giving a shit that he showed up at her door.
I know they turn it around and there’s the emotional payoff, but oof that was a punch in the gut.
I swear to god kids today would be traumatized by Bambi.
What makes you think they weren’t always traumatized by Bambi? Or Lion King, for that matter.
Agreed. It’s partly my own journey as a kid getting fucked up by things I saw that advises my decisions about what to let my kids see. Of course you have to feel it out because no two people are the same and some do better than others but Bambi and Lion King are great examples of movies we may have watched as kids that we can now look at as an adult and think about how old is appropriate for that sort of thing. Disney movies like killing off parents, though, so weirdly it becomes a less “serious” scary thing since they are already exposed to it and get accustomed to it more as a story beat than something to be scared of (after a few minutes anyways).
And back to my earlier comment about Shazam, if that spoilered thing was the only thing that would have “scared” my kids then that would be great. I could have a conversation with them about it and help them learn about the realities of the world, so can help them deal with that sort of emotion. Since my kids aren’t adopted they aren’t exposed to that sort of idea yet. It’s new scary things that I have to watch out for. Probably what helped me learn this the most was my kids reaction to Zootopia. There were a few scenes of the animals going apeshit and yes that was scary, but what I didn’t expect to keep my kids up at night and having nightmares was the fact that they knew animals were all around us and now they saw just how scary an animal could get. My daughter was worried a raccoon would bust through her window in the middle of the night looking like the “scary version” of the animals like in the movie.
Unexpected new thing: animals can be scary. Whoops, didn’t see that coming. I took that fact for granted, even. Apparently I need to let my kids watch old school nature documentaries, because Wild Kratts wasn’t cutting it.
But in the context of the rest of the “scares” in Shazam I think it’s just easier to wait and see. There’s not a rush to let them see it, save any sort of spoiler sharing their classmates might do.
I mean I remember the first time my (now) 5 year old saw Zootopia. And the scenes where the jaguar went feral definitely frightened him. But he curled up close to me and kept watching.
And it was fine. Being scared isn’t without value. And after he saw the movie, and processed it, he loved it. We’ve watched it a bunch since. Is 3 young for a scene so intense? Eh maybe, but being there to talk him through it and explain what is happening made it ok.
Now obviously Shazam is way the hell out of the question for him for a few years. The most intense movie he’s watched is Star Wars, and I’ve no intention of pushing that for a while.
Though I admit I’ve been tempted by Jurassic Park. I think he’d be ok, aside from the goat scene (and what comes after). Plus he loves dinosaurs.
Jurassic Park is essentially a horror movie. I wouldn’t show it to my kids for a while.
Oh sure. It’ll be a few years.
But I look forward to it, because it’ll be an experience to see the wonder from fresh eyes. Plus being scared isn’t necessarily bad thing. When he’s 8-10 I’m sure he’ll be ready.
Anyhow my point was picking up where @arrendek had left off. Sometimes pushing your kids, challenging them, in a safe environment where you can talk about it is good. Like an intense movie scene. The kid may be scared, but as a parent you try and read the situation and be ready to talk them through it. Like Zootopia, that scene definitely was scary for my son. But because we could sit and talk about it, it helped him understand the fear, and understand how he wasn’t in any danger. Helped him differentiate reality from fantasy.
Heh. Bambi wasn’t too bad, but Fox and the Hound was tough.
My 10 year old watched World War Z despite me telling him not to.
Now he consults me on every movie before watching it, and I sleep in his room while he sleeps with his mother :(
He did enjoy Shazam very much.