LEGO DC SHAZAM!: MAGIC AND MONSTERS (2020)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *metaphysical*

Like AQUAMAN: RAGE OF ATLANTIS, this Lego concoction is essentially a Justice League adventure that emphasizes one particular hero, though the hero retroactively known as "Shazam" is, unlike Aquaman, not yet a member. In fact, one of the main conflicts of the DTV flick is that Shazam doesn't want to admit his double identity as middle-schooler Billy Batson because he thinks the older heroes won't allow him to play in their superhero sandbox.

This concern plays into the A-plot of MAGIC: why are the fearsome fiends of the Monster Society of Evil running around stealing tons of food for their boss? Said kingpin is, as insiders should know, the not so fearsome Mister Mind, a tiny worm wearing glasses and a speaker-box to amplify his voice, while his criminal associates are made up of three characters who were in the authentic Golden Age society (Sivana, Jeepers and Crocodile-Man) and two others (Oom the Mighty and the Dummy) who were "retconned" into the group by a later author in the 1980s or thereabouts. 

Aside from the obvious question-- how come the tiny worm doesn't become a really fat tiny worm?-- the Justice Leaguers no sooner lock horns with the Society than Mister Mind subjects them all to the horrors of a second childhood, de-aging the heroes to make them easier to control. Batman, being the coolest hero (just as Shazam is seen to be the most polite), escape the nasty worm's influence, and they have to more or less bond, even though Batman's not the most trusting soul. Then the two of them must pursue assorted strategies to trap and free the kid-Leaguers from Mind's control, though it takes longer to re-age them.

There's a muddled subplot about how Billy was selected to be Shazam by the old man who used to be named Shazam, but who is now addressed only as "The Wizard." Eventually we find out Mister Mind's reason for consuming mass quantities-- to make himself into a bigger, badder worm-thing-- but he's not even the main menace, who has been pulling Mind's strings in order to arrange his release from the Wizard's custody. 

The most clever subplot in MAGIC is one that sounds like a throwaway line, when Shazam expresses some confusion about the "power of Zeus" that's one of his six aspects. But this turns out to be the script's way of referencing an ability that rarely appeared in the comics but got plenty of exposure in the 2019 SHAZAM movie: the hero's ability to transfer his powers to others. Of course the story is self-consciously silly, and over-impressed with its own cleverness, but occasionally there are a few bursts of real wit.

The DVD I saw includes some cartoon episodes as extras, and I only watched one, a fifth-season episode of TEEN TITANS GO in which the goofy crusaders meet both Shazam and Mister Mind. This short cartoon is on the same level of self-conscious silliness with occasional moments of wit.