Funny superhero sequel has action violence, language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 12+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
a lot
Lots of comic book-style peril, action violence, and destruction, such as a collapsing bridge and monsters taking over the city, attacking humans. Brief glimpse of a first-person shooter video game. People are impaled. Gods enslave humans by turning them into zombie-type creatures. A sympathetic character plunges to their death. Key character goes on a suicide mission. Car crashes. Humans in real peril, screaming. Terrifying dragon. Squeamish moment when a large wood splinter is slowly pulled out from under a fingernail.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.
Regular use of words including "ass," "a--hole," "s--t," "sucks balls," "d--k," "oh my God," and "what the hell." A child comically says "motherfu--" (cut off before the profane ending, but viewers will know what's being said).
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.
We all have a hero inside of us: "The most powerful thing about you is you." Shows importance of having strong foundation in family, whether it's a biological one or a foster one (movie's example of loving, caring foster home is nice change from many representations). Clear themes of teamwork, courage, and compassion.
Positive Role Models
a lot
Kids are superheroes, and, beyond that, are smart, brave, caring, kind, and compassionate, and work together as a team.
Diverse Representations
some
Main character Billy/Shazam (Asher Angel/Zachary Levi) is a White boy/man. The Shazam team of superheroes lives with loving foster parents Rosa and Victor Vasquez (Spanish actor Marta Milans and Samoan/Jewish actor Cooper Andrews, respectively) and is made up of a diverse group of kids (and their corresponding adult versions). Freddy (non-disabled White actor Jack Dylan Grazer) is disabled, walking with an arm crutch but confidently taking on those who bully others. Other team members are played by Jewish (Asher Angel), Irish (Caroline Grace-Cassidy), Taiwanese American (Ian Chen), Black (Faithe Herman), and Salvadorian/Mexican (Jovan Armand) actors. There's also diversity in gender, body size, and sexuality. Villains are female and fierce; they're played by White British actor Helen Mirren, Chinese American actor Lucy Liu, and Colombian American actor Rachel Zegler; their ages range from teenager to over 70.
Parents need to know that Shazam! Fury of the Gods is the sequel to 2019's Shazam!. It revolves around six foster siblings, ages 10–19, who can transform into adult superheroes. This time around, Billy Batson (played by Asher Angel in teen form and Zachary Levi as an adult) and his "Shazamily" go up against the Daughters of Atlas (Lucy Liu, Helen Mirren, Rachel Zegler). Expect comic book-style action violence, including crashes, destruction, a couple of impalings, and significant deaths. Monsters and a terrifying dragon run amok, and gods enslave humans by turning them into zombie-type creatures. Kids swear -- "a--hat," "s--t," "oh my God," and one very quotable line that ends in a cut-off "motherfu--" -- and there's a bit of teen romance. In keeping with the movie's clear message that everyone has the power of a hero inside of them, characters are diverse in terms of race, disability, identity, body shape, and economic status. Teamwork, courage, and compassion are also themes. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
Not family friendly. Disturbing “suicide” scene. Unnecessary to movie plot.
I feel like more attention should be brought to the incredibly disturbing scene of a teacher (who in a previous scene helps one of the characters ward off bullies), gets hypnotized into jumping off a building to his (audible) death with one of the villains saying “exploding like a grape”. An unnecessary scene in a movie that’s supposed to be family friendly. This was disturbing to my husband and I as adults and should not be something any adolescent or child sees portrayed AS NO BIG DEAL.
Other than one of the characters being upset for 30 seconds, they move on happily to other scenes and end the movie without ever readdressing such an unbelievably terrible death. Why not bring HIM back at the end at least.
We have so much violence these days including in schools including highest suicide rates to date and kids being convinced by others to kill themselves.
Killing a teacher like it’s no big deal (likely whispering “kill yourself” to him) is not something to sit lightly in a child or adolescent’s subconscious as no big deal (as portrayed in the movie).
This ruined the movie for my husband and I. Thankfully we saw it first without our son. I wouldn’t recommend this movie for any age.
Shazam! Furry of the Gods is the sequel to the first Shazam! movie. Not surprisingly, the movie does feature intense violence including crashes, explosions, fighting etc. and there are also dragons, wild unicorns (that attack in the beginning), and gods enslave humans by turning them into zombie/Greek mythology themed creatures; there's also quite a bit of brand mentioning such as skittles and Gatorade. On the whole, I loved this movie, it did have one or two jokes that I laughed quite a lot, but it wasn't perfect: for example the acting could've been a bit better as well as the plot because it had no twist. Still, a great movie!
What's the Story?
In SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS (the sequel to 2019's Shazam!),Billy Batson (Asher Angel as a teenager, Zachary Levi as an adult superhero) and his superhero foster siblings are fighting crime in Philadelphia -- although the city thinks they're creating chaos and dubs them "the Philly Fiascos." Several of the kids are also managing other, non-super issues: Mary (Grace Caroline Currey), now a young adult, can't afford college and isn't sure what to do with her life. Pedro (Jovan Armand/D.J. Cotrona) is trying to find himself. And Billy is suffering from imposter syndrome. But when the supersiblings hear that the evil Daughters of Atlas (Lucy Liu, Helen Mirren, Rachel Zegler) may be wielding an ultrapowerful weapon, they jump into action and put their teamwork to the test to defend the world.
This hilarious sequel proves that Shazam is the most exuberantly empowering superhero for kids in the current DC Universe. The magic of superhero comics has always been inspiring readers to see themselves as heroes, something that's often lost in the over-musclebound, sometimes too serious, dark superhero cinematic landscape (especially where DC is concerned). But Shazam! Fury of the Gods creates the perfect canvas for that flight of imagination by helping kids from many walks of life and underrepresented groups see themselves on screen. Plus, by showing the Shazamily kids in their "adult" state, it offers a subtle "it gets better" message for any kids watching who might be unhappy with their current state of being. When the core message is delivered in the dialogue -- "the most powerful thing about you is you" -- it gets a humorous eyeroll from Djimon Hounsou's Wizard (yes, he's somehow still alive even though he turned to dust in the first film). But as the story bears out, it's a phenomenal message for these heroes -- and young viewers.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the diverse representations in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Did you see someone who looks like you on the screen? Why is representation important?
Do you agree with the movie's message that everyone has the potential to be a hero? What does it mean to be an everyday hero? If you were a superhero, what would your power be? In real life, what is your "superpower"?
How do the characters demonstrate courage, compassion, and teamwork? Why are those important character strengths?
How did the violence make you feel? Was it more or less intense than other superhero movies you've seen? What's the impact of seeing violence in entertainment?
The Daughters of Atlas want to reclaim the power that was stolen from their father. Are they wrong to want that back? Tell this story from their point of view. If you're familiar with Greek mythology, what other monsters and gods are referenced here?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
suggesting a diversity update.
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Tara McNamara
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
