Shazam  ★★★

THERE’S nothing exceptional about comic book hero movie Shazam.

There are better, more exciting and funnier films of its type; but it’s a solid entertainment that won’t offend and will be enjoyed by a wide audience.

Although it ends in the familiar apocalyptic, special-effects laden confrontation, for most of the preceding running time the story and characters are refreshingly grounded.

Fourteen-year-old Billy Baston has attitude, due mainly to an unsettled upbringing being moved between foster homes.

His latest placement is with a well-meaning and loving young couple who are looking after an extended foster family filled with various young outcasts.

Slowly and warily Billy starts to bond with the others while still attempting to maintain an outward rebellious persona.

By way of earlier flashback we know that as a child Billy experienced a life-altering event that was also partly reality-questioning courtesy of a wizard’s appearance.

This powerful wizard, who believes Billy is somehow a ‘chosen one’, comes back into the teenager’s life when an evil force threatens mankind.

Billy must learn how to harness the super powers bestowed on him in order to evade and ultimately defeat the evil Dr Thaddeus Sivana.

The twist here is that the super powers come in the form of an adult body but with Billy’s teenage mind not part of the transformation.

So before he knuckles down to the serious business of saving the world, Billy and his mate have fun testing his superhuman strength, speed and laser fingers in a series of extended, comic sequences.

The middle section is the best of the film with plenty of laughs and inventive action. Zachary Levi gives a nicely judged performance as teenage Billy in the adult Shazam body and Mark Strong has fun as the villain.

There are a few dramatic scenes that might startle the very young but most youngsters should thoroughly enjoy it. If the playful approach was maintained through the entire film I would have been more likely to join them.