Hokeyboy

Needs more skateboarding and parkour scenes.

brayzie

The real estate scene was one of my favorites in the trailer.

Giantrobo

Then you are the "lowest common denominator" and part of the problem....

Hokeyboy

Your eye is sprained? Don't throw out a rotator cuff with that incredible reach there

There was a bunch of complaining that kids won't like Shazam because it's not "cool" and "hip" ala Guardians of the Galaxy... a movie in tone, subject matter, history, etc. that is world's away from that of Shazam. So if that real estate scene leaves you with a pearls-clutching ephemera of vulgarity, that's all on you.

Paul_SD

Uh..yeah that's entirely not what I said, or the point I was trying to make.

The real estate scene doesn't work for me in the trailer (remember, this is all we are talking about- initial marketing reactions), for several reasons. An absence of vulgarity has nothing to do with it (not sure where you're coming up with me being left with the "pearls clutching ephemera" of it, as that is kind of the opposite of what I said, but whatever).

I'll try to lay all this out a little more plainly.

The trailer opens up with what appears to be an emotionally guarded, non demonstrative Billy Batson, who has "run away from his foster homes" and "can take care of himself".
He's an orphan that has has apparently seen some hard knocks and he's not Jokester/ Mr. Personality because of that.
Not necessarily the kind of character that you would expect to be front and center of a fun, light adventure jaunt- but the story is just starting, he'll probably have an arc, and what is seen is not unrealistic to the circumstance.

Next we get to the intro scene with Freddy where he initially punks him, saying "They look nice, but don't buy it. It get's real Game Of Thrones around here (Oooh- a Joss Whendon-esque pop culture reference. How un-Marvel is that ). Billy's demeanor continues to be wary reticence (again, perfectly understandable and believable).
Next we seem him at lunch, where Freddy is trying to engage him in a conversation about superhero powers. Once again, Billy is shown as being cool, and aloof ("so they can fly away from this conversation").
Then we get the bully beat down scene with the sarcastic, post beating quip- "sorry about that".

All up to this point the character seems perfectly in tune with what he is supposed to be (an orphan loner) and more importantly, his personality is consistent- restrained, cool, unemotional, sardonic.

Once he become Zach Levi, all of a sudden he is demonstrably mugging and "punching up" all of his line reading like he was a child star working at the Disney channel.
This is a choice that the director and Levi made to play it like this, but tone seems to shift markedly at this point, and this is where it completely loses me. I don't see Levi playing the character that opened the trailer so much as just (over)playing some generic Disney channel-style teen. And since the "Shazam" action is going to be all Levi, I have questions as to whether I'll be invested enough in the character at that point to care about anything.

Look, I realize this is just the trailer and not the film itself. The latter is an entirely different animal. I get it.
All I'm commenting on is why the marketing here is not resonating with me, despite the fact that I've liked many of the (original) aspects of this character and his universe for years- and that I was initially very receptive to seeing this property translated to the screen in a "light" manner.

I also have no beef with anyone else enjoying what they are seeing and looking forward to it. Why on earth would I?
In general, I'm happy to see more of these things being successful, especially ones that try stray outside the box.
The big thing here is that , for several pages now, Hokeyboy has characterized detractors of what we've seen as somehow being too cool for school Marvel zombies, so of course they wouldn't appreciate this attempt at "un hip, un cool" humor.
Between the pop culture references, the sardonic attitude, and what looks to be a surfeit of meta-style humor (which has been the vogue for superhero/comic book material for a while now, in case anyone hadn't noticed), I don't quite get how anyone can say this is so antithetical to what Marvel is putting out. It's exactly the kind of stuff Marvel does, just wrapped up in a different container.
I'm not saying that as a positive or a negative. It just is.

Anyway, all of that should leave you with plenty of straw to build up another figure to mischaracterize, and then tear apart.
You're welcome.

Ok- so after that long winded dispatch, I ran across this extended scene.

Yes, context matters and it looks like Levi's performance may be more nuanced than what was cut into the prior spots.
I was never rooting for this film to fail- I was just looking for reasons to get as hyped for it as other people here were.
This might not have done that, but it's more in the right direction for me. I still ain't warming to Freddy's smart ass sidekick character, though.

Giantrobo

That's a lotta words just to say the DCEU Sucks and is a Waste of Time.

Paul_SD

Still like Watchmen quite a bit. WW improved for me on a second viewing, and I'm very much looking forward to finally seeing Aquaman next week.
I also thought Black Panther was the ultimate example of a participation trophy movie.

I'm not a fanboy for either brand. Every film soars or flounders on it's own merits. I'm also not prejudiced against Shazam.

People seemed content to broadly slag Alita based on what they saw in the trailers. I was trying to be a little more nuanced in articulating where my assumed antipathy so far is coming from.

TheMovieman

brayzie

Okay, I completely agree with this. At least when I first saw the trailers.
Levi as Captain Marvel seems more like Freddy's personality than Billy's, from what little we've seen of the two kids.
I didn't like Billy beating the bully up with the crutches and then following up with the the typical 80s/90s one liner, "sorry about that."
But I'm guessing that's to establish that Billy has a strong moral center and is willing to act on it to defend the little guy/innocent people. The snappy one liner is setting up for when Levi as Captain Marvel will be using them himself, which will probably come across as funnier.

Again, I felt the same at first.
"You're like a bad guy right?"
"Sup, I'm a superhero..."
^Two examples that don't seem to be things that teenage Billy would say-at least from what the trailer establishes of him.

But a couple things:
If you re-watch Big, kid Josh doesn't come across as nearly as goofy or wacky as adult Josh. It seems like the script and Tom Hanks' performance exaggerate how kids act and talk. How's that possible if the actor for kid Josh AND the script make him a very believable, chill, non-caricature kid? I'm guessing it's too help provide a greater contrast in the scenes between the real adults and the adult who has the mind of a kid. If Tom Hanks and Zachary Levi both acted like real kids trapped in adult bodies, they'd probably come across as just regular adults who happen to be quiet, or slightly socially awkward. That would be more realistic, but less interesting for the audience.

So whereas the previous quotes didn't work for me, the "I'd like to purchase some of your finest beer please" scene I found funny, despite having the same type of dialogue and delivery. "His name is Captain...Sparkle Fingers."
"No it's not...No it's not! That's not my name!"

I think Hokeyboy is right, that none of the humor is going to be edgy, gross or trying to be "cool and hip." Just fun and funny.
Deadpool, Ironman, Avengers, and GotG are more in that style.

But it's hard not to be somewhat meta, when comic book culture is so mainstream now. How do you make a film about a world where superhero comics aren't part of pop-culture? That world would, ironically, feel less realistic.

Good point. Most of Marvel's films are visually colorful and feel very "safe" at times.
For example, the vibe of Spider-man: Homecoming minus Tony Stark seems to be similar to the Shazam! Trailers.
But then again, remembering Iron Man, and the Avengers films, the non-stop snappy back and forth seems to get a little old and too formulaic.
While there's a lot of humor in the Shazam! trailers, and in the extended scene, it seems like it's spread out better, which might give the story a better chance to breathe.

That's funny because I thought Freddy was going to be that smart ass kid from the first trailer. But in the extended scene he seems more likable and more like a regular kid, who's knows about superheroes but isn't Big Bang Theory-nerdy.

Overall, there are a lot of reasons why I'm excited to see this movie:
-A superhero version of Big.
-Great costume design.
-Colorful (even though I thought the desaturation for Man of Steel was appropriate).
-Great casting for Captain Marvel and Freddy Freeman.
-The humor scenes actually got me to chuckle and don't across as try hard.
-The two scenes we've seen of Billy transforming while saying "Shazam!" are freaking awesome.