Fury of the gods, delight for the kids

“SHAZAM! Fury of the Gods” succeeds as great weekend family viewing. It has larger-than-life superheroes, fun “kids,” wicked villains and lots of mythical creatures.

At times, it enters “Harry Potter” and “Game of Thrones” territory. It’s packed with action, comedy and heartwarming moments.

Shazam (Zachary Levi) incurs the ire of the Daughters of Atlas and does what he can to save his family and the city of Philadelphia from their destructive plans.

The Daughters of Atlas, aka Hespera (Helen Mirren), Kalypso (Lucy Liu) and Anthea (Rachel Zegler), are on a mission to take back the power the Wizard (Djimon Honsou) and Billy Batson (Asher Angel) stole from the gods.

They are compelling foes, and Kalypso, with her “Power of Chaos,” just cannot be reeled in. She whispers mind-controlling gibberish in your ear, and you’re done for.

Kind of like social media messing with your head, but quicker. We get to know our young heroes better—Billy, Freddy, Mary, Pedro, Eugene and Darla.

Darla is passionately into cats and unicorns. Freddy is exploring young love and a degree of independence. Mary wistfully ponders her inevitable aging out of the foster system into the love and care of the Vasquez couple.

Billy has impostor syndrome and wonders if he’s worthy of the power he has and his leadership role.

Pedro is discovering his sexuality, and Eugene is hooked as ever on video games. They profess this deep love for their found family unit as we all sit there in the dark, consuming our popcorn and feeling the danger of all this being taken away from them. Watch out for a few Easter Eggs and one big cameo. I felt a bit cheated by the deus ex machina ending, but all in all, still a fun product.

Watch out for the “I Need a Hero” montage near the start too.

Shazam’s fate after the big shake-up at DC putting Peter Safran and James Gunn at the helm. In the meantime, look for Rachel Zegler in Disney’s live-action “Snow White” with Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen.