I liked it.

OK, so Shazam isn't as funny as Deadpool, although it tries very hard to be so. It isn't as overtly satisfying as the majority of films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And, honestly, I can't say I enjoyed it as much as recent DC films Wonder Woman and Aquaman.

But kudos to DC for trying something different, something outside the bounds of its usual too-gritty or too-campy traditions.

And, for the most part, it works. It works really well.

Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is a 14-year-old boy who's in the foster program after losing his mother several years earlier. But he's not happy in the system -- he keeps running away and trying to find his mom. He ends up in a group home in Philadelphia, with loving foster parents Victor and Rosa Vasquez (Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans) and foster siblings Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), Mary Bromfield (Grace Fulton), Darla Dudley (Faithe Herman), Eugene Choi (Ian Chen) and Pedro Pena (Jovan Armand).

Batson is probably going to run away again, but he steps up to defend Freddy against a couple of bullies -- and WHOOSH he's whisked away to a mystic temple, where the ancient wizard Shazam (Djimon Hounsou) is looking for a hero. Batson, for lack of a better option, is gifted with tremendous powers (flight, invulnerability, super speed, etc.) any time he says the wizard's name -- along with a muscular, 30-something body (Zachary Levi).

Cue the villain, Dr. Sivana (Mark Strong). Sivana was, as shown in the opening scene, also whisked away by the wizard Shazam a few decades before, but he was deemed unworthy. Now, older but still determined to get those gifts, he manages to steal powers personified by the seven deadly sins, who take up residence (stay with me here) in Sivana's glowing blue eyeball.

Then he decides he wants Batson's powers, too. Cue the fight scenes.

There are some issues here. Like, for instance, Billy Batson is a pretty serious teenager but, as his older superheroic self, he acts like a goofy kid. Why the change in sudden personalities? Also, Batson spends a large portion of the movie trying to master his abilities. When he shares those powers with a handful of others near the end, they master them immediately. How? The villain, Sivana, is motivated by his desire to steal Batson's powers -- even though he has almost the exact same powers already. Why does he need duplicate abilities?

More troubling to me is a scene of brutal decapitation and murder in a corporate boardroom, masterminded by Sivana and his pet demons/sins. It's not the brutality itself that truly bothers me; it's the scene's placement amid the movie's overall goofiness. It feels sharply out of place, and could frighten children in the audience who would otherwise enjoy the film.

Otherwise, Shazam is a home run for DC. The movie is breezy and fun, a huge step forward for the home of dark and gritty heroes. It's lively and colorful and a pleasure to watch.

I liked it. And I'm curious to see how this hero interacts with others in the DC universe.