LEGO DC: Shazam! Magic and Monsters [Blu-Ray]

Director: Matt Peters

Cast: Sean Astin, Troy Baker, Grey Griffin (VOICES)

Release Date: June 16, 2020

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 7/10
Disc Rating: 6/10

Synopsis:

In LEGO DC: Shazam! Magic and Monsters, 10-year-old Billy Batson shouts a single word and, with lightning bolts flashing, he transforms into Shazam!, a full-fledged adult Super Hero. It doesn’t take long for Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and the rest of the Justice League to take notice and invite the earnest do-gooder to join the team. But to become a member, Billy must reveal his true identity. While fighting off the evil Mr. Mind and Black Adam, Billy learns that he must trust others – and that nothing creates trust like helping those in need. Join the good fight with this giant-sized LEGO DC adventure!

Please Note: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

The latest in the LEGO DC Superhero movie universe for the whole family, ‘LEGO DC: Shazam! Magic and Monsters’ accompanies young Billy Batson who has been gifted with unimaginable power and now finds himself trying to control and hone that power to assist others. As he sets out to do his superhero thing, it isn’t long before he crosses paths with the heroes of the Justice League who can’t help but be impressed by his talents and quickly offer him membership. But before he can enjoy his newfound status a terrible plot by the diabolic Mr. Mind forces Billy to team up with the one member who still has doubts. Now he’ll have to learn about trust and teamwork as he fights to uncover the truth of the threat and save his new friends.

‘LEGO DC: Shazam! Magic and Monsters’ is another fun, funny and easygoing animated adventure with something for superhero fans of all ages that should appeal to kids and many adults without ever allowing the content to surpass the kid-friendly level. This new adventure continues from the previous films (although rest assured there’s nothing crucial that will require viewing those previous movies to follow along) and brings back your favorite heroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern in fairly prominent roles, yet with the key focus on young Billy Batson (aka Shazam!) this time around. The character makes a pretty perfect selection to lead the latest installment of these kid friendly animated films because what could be more relatable and exciting to young viewers than an all-powerful hero that’s nearly their own age after all.

Featuring the voice talents of Sean Astin as Shazam!, in addition to Troy Baker, Grey Griffin, Nolan North and more (many of which reprise their roles from previous LEGO DC animated installments) who for the most part each make great selections for the characters and do solid jobs in their respective voice roles. I would strongly encourage fans of the various LEGO DC Superhero animated films to make a point of giving ‘LEGO DC: Shazam! Magic and Monsters’ a whirl whenever you have the chance. It’s another exciting, humorous and generally light-hearted DC Comics superhero tale for the entire family with more than enough humorous fan and goofy adventure to make it a worthy addition to the immensely enjoyable LEGO DC lineup.

Overall, ‘LEGO DC: Shazam! Magic and Monsters’ makes a great addition to the ongoing LEGO DC Superhero animated film series, serving up another fast paced and family friendly adventure with something for fans of every age group, not to mention a hero at the forefront that the younger viewers should enjoy relating to. ‘LEGO DC: Shazam! Magic and Monsters’ is definitely recommended for fans of these consistently enjoyable and easygoing LEGO DC animated features who should have just as much fun with this new installment which gives ‘Shazam!’ the focus this time around while still continuing from the other animated installments and allotting plenty of screen time to your other favorite heroes like Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman. It’s another splendidly goofy animated adventure for the whole family that should be worth the price of a rental (or a purchase) for fans of these solid family-friendly DC features (and of course the parents of younger fans).

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘LEGO DC: Shazam! Magic and Monsters’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks quite nice altogether and holds up with the previous LEGO DC animated features on Blu-ray. It provides a generally sharp, clean and vividly colored presentation throughout that delivers admirably in most respects, aside from suffering the usual occasional banding and other minor troubles that fans shouldn’t be surprised to discover within. Overall, this is a pretty solid high definition video presentation that shouldn’t have any trouble pleasing the fans who were content with the previous LEGO DC Superhero Blu-ray releases over the years.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack provides a crisp, clean and at times somewhat aggressive audio presentation throughout. It isn’t the most active audio presentation when it comes to the surround elements, often centering much of the activity and dialogue, although it does embrace all five available channels on many instances in order to send some music, background content and occasional booming effects throughout the various speakers when fitting, while never conflicting with any dialogue or other audio elements that may be occurring simultaneously. Overall, it definitely isn’t the audio presentation of the year, but this 5.1 channel DTS-HD MA soundtrack does have its moments and never suffers from any real issues that will deter from the experience.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘LEGO DC: Shazam! Magic and Monsters’ includes ‘3 Bonus Cartoons’ for Lego and DC fans, they include: ‘Teen Titans Go! “Little Elvis”’ (running approximately 11 minutes), ‘Unkitty! “Spoooooky Game”’ (approximately 11 minutes) and ‘Unkitty! “Pool Duel”’ (approximately 11 minutes). Initial pressings of the release will also include a LEGO Minifigure of Shazam in marked packages while supplies last.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

 –

Film Rating: 7/10
Disc Rating: 6/10

–

‘LEGO DC: Shazam! Magic and Monsters’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from LEGO, DC Entertainment & Warner Bros. Entertainment

–