Although I very much enjoyed 2019's Shazam, I was leery of the sequel after hearing so many lukewarm comments. Well, I finally took the time to watch it ... and, while it's by no means as awful as the internet haters would have us believe, it's certainly not good.

The last movie ended with the titular hero Shazam (Zachary Levi) -- along with his much younger alter-ego Billy Batson (Asher Angel) -- granting a share of his gods-given powers to his five foster siblings. Now, they're all playing superhero in Philadelphia, but their hometown doesn't seem to appreciate their efforts. (The "Philly Fiascos" is just one of the not-so-loving monikers the city has bestowed on them.) But then the magical staff that was broken in the last movie is found, and two (or three) Greek goddesses come to Earth to claim it and lay waste to the land.

As the elder goddesses Hespera and Kalypso, Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu provide some gravitas to the movie, but I have to wonder if they weren't calling their agents between takes to complain bitterly about their contracts. I have to admire their commitment that allowed them to deliver their lines with so much vigor despite everything going on around them.

Meanwhile, the Shazam family offers mostly silly quips and hijinks, which feel grossly out of place when people around them are dying. I admit it, I hate when a movie plays scenes like this for laughs and goofy heroism when there are actual serious consequences to nameless characters on the screen.

Despite fine performances by both Zachary Levi and Asher Angel, you never get the sense they're the same person in different bodies. Their personalities, much like their physiques, are entirely dissimilar. (Oddly, Levi plays his grownup persona like a kid, while Angel overall acts more mature.)

Besides Shazam himself, his family/team includes Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody in his hero form), Pedro Pena (Jovan Armand and D.J. Cotrona), Darla Dudley (Faithe Herman and Meagan Good), Eugene Choi (Ian Chen and Ross Butler) and Mary Bromfield (Grace Caroline Currey in both roles).

Other notable members of the cast include Djimon Hounsou as the Wizard, Rachel Zegler as the goddess Anthea, Cooper Andrews and Marta Millans as foster parents Victor and Rosa Vasquez, and Diedrich Bader as the custodian Mr. Geckle, who deserved better.

I can't say anyone was bad in their roles. Some were quite good, actually -- Grazer in particular was a standout performer, and Brody and Good did a great job mimicking the personalities of their younger counterparts.

And there are good scenes. There's a positive representation of foster care, which is pretty rare in movies, and the scene with the galloping unicorns was pretty cool. There were even a few truly emotional scenes, and the final battle is pretty damn climactic. (I'm not a fan of obvious product placements in movies, but the whole Skittles bit was hilarious.)

But then there are odd choices, like a major bridge that's shown collapsing in an early scene is later scene completely restored and, while it looked impressive when Shazam punched a dragon through a building, did he even stop to wonder if there were people inside? There's a poignant sacrifice near the end, but it's followed up moments later by an inexplicable resurrection.

And, while it's always nice to see Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, she turns up at just the right moment with another sudden new power that is exactly what is needed for the situation. She's not a superhero Swiss Army knife, guys.

All told, Shazam: Fury of the Gods is not the worst superhero movie to be made in recent years, but it squandered a lot of the potential and good will that filmmakers had built in the previous film. I'm pretty sure they're not planning to make any more in this particular series, and I can't say I'm disappointed.