Shazam first reactions are INCREDIBLE: 'Hilarious' 'Scary' 'The BEST DC movie yet'

Has Aquaman turned the tide? After banking over $1billion and building on the strong success of Wonder Woman, Arthur Curry signalled a new dawn for DC at the cinema. Now it looks like Shazam is set to continue the fun with a deluge of ecstatic first reactions from industry and media pundits at the first screenings. Some are even saying this is their favourite DCEU movie so far. Trailers have played up the childish fun of the premise, but the reactions also praise how scary it is and how much heart it has. Marvel are no longer the undisputed kings of the comicbook cinematic universe.

Terri Schwartz at IGN: “I’ve seen Shazam. I LOVED Shazam. It’s an absolute blast, very much carried by a strong cast of kid actors and an awesome performance from Zachary Levi. There’s so much heart and humour in this film – not to mention a positive message and great twists. It’s a needed burst of joy.”

Brandon Davis: “Shazam is such a brilliant movie. It’s so tremendously fun and incredibly scary at some points (thanks, David F. Sandberg!). It blows away every expectation and is my new favourite DC movie. It is SCARY. Like scary in the ways we wanted Venom to be. But then it switches to brilliant, side-splitting fun. It’s so impressive.

“The cast of Shazam⁠⁠ is just genius. Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, smugorange and Mark Strong are all just awesome. I had a blast watching all of them, and they play such different parts. Jack Dylan Glazer is an absolute scene stealer as Freddy Freeman.”

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Paul Shirey at JoBlo: “There are so many hilarious and absolutely clever moments in Shazam that I lost track. There’s no other superhero movie like this in existence. You never feel been-there-done-that with this one, even if some of it falls into the realm of stereotypical character tropes.”

Jenna Busch: “Finally allowed to say that Shazam was fantastic! Full of heart and pure childhood wish fulfilment. It’s funny and the tone is exactly right. Zachary Levi is perfect in the role, and so is Asher Angel, who I’m convinced is Maisie Williams’ brother!”

Peter Sciretta at Slash Film: “Shazam is parts Home Alone, parts Big, a crowd-pleasing family-friendly joy-filled wish-fulfilment superhero film which gets a bit over the top and cheesy at times. It’s fun and funny, and I was surprised at how much it wears its heart on its sleeve.”

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Erik Davis at Fandango: “Shazam is big, goofy, lovable, and unlike anything DC has done before. Definitely in the vein of Tom Hanks’ BIG, but with superhero action & lots of Batman and Superman references. I dug this film so much I wanted to give it a bear hug at the end. DC’s movies keep getting better

Mike Cecchini at WauPut Stuff: “I#Shazam sometimes feels like if Joe Dante or Robert Zemeckis made a superhero movie in 1985. It’s a family movie, but the villain and the magical stuff is just scary enough to give it that edge, and it never swings too far in either direction.  In fact, I’m gonna go out on a limb and call #Shazam my favourite DCEU movie. It is really well balanced, gets the magical wonder of the character and his world right, and somehow never feels like it’s trying too hard.”

SHAZAM! IS OUT ON APRIL 5