It's clear from the trailers that Shazam! is a somewhat different superhero movie than we are used to seeing. It looks a lot funnier and many of the main roles are played by young kids. But if kids are the stars of Shazam! does that mean Shazam! is also a movie for kids? A fan recently asked director David F. Sandberg this question, and he replied that parents worried about too much violence shouldn't need to worry too much, as Shazam! is no worse than a classic blockbuster...
I’d say the type of violence and scares are comparable to Jurassic Park so if they can handle that it should be fine.
A fan on Twitter was all set to bring a pair of young children, ages four and nine, to see Shazam!, but had recently heard the film was much scarier in some scenes than the trailers we'd seen had implied. David F. Sandberg does seem to confirm that here are some potentially scary bits of the movie that certainly aren't like anything we've seen in the film's promotion so far, but if your kid can get through Jurassic Park ok, then they shouldn't have much problem with Shazam!.
With superhero movies being so popular there are certainly a legion of young viewers who would like to see their favorite superheroes on the big screen. And while, with the exception of the Deadpool movies and Logan, the vast majority of audiences would have little problem with any of them, there have certainly been some that could be too intense for some younger viewers. Shazam! certainly looks ok for those young kids. It probably mostly is.
Shazam! is rated PG-13, which is the standard rating for every superhero movie under the sun. It's become such a popular and well used rating that at this point it can cover quite a lot of ground. There's a lot of violence or language that might be too much for the PG rating but not technically bad enough to justify the R. This means that parents might find some PG-13 movies acceptable for younger kids, and others not so much.
Jurassic Park certainly had its intense moments. The T. Rex sequence as well as the one where the two child characters attempt to hid from a pack of hungry raptors, are certainly moments that ratchet up the tension and you can easily see some kids not doing well with those moments. Heck, there are probably some adults that get anxious in those moments.
Since two of the main characters in Shazam! are kids, though one takes the form of Zachary Levi much of the time, there probably will be moments where children are in similar jeopardy in this movie.
The early reaction to Shazam! has been overwhelmingly positive. That means even more people will likely want to see the movie. It looks like most of them will be able to enjoy it.
