Avengers: Endgame (no spoilers review)

(M) ★★★★★

Director: Anthony & Joe Russo.

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin.

Worst scarecrow ever.

So it's come to this. The 22nd film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is being touted as the end of an era, tying up the loose ends of more than a decade worth of storytelling. In many ways Endgame is the clearing of the slate before whatever comes next. And given the carnage of Infinity War, all bets were off on what exactly that slate-clearing would entail.

But you won't find any answers to that conundrum here. This is a spoiler-free review, so all you need to know is that Endgame is great; really, properly great. Amazing, in fact. With all this anticipation, promise, and baggage, it's actually remarkable how fulfilling and enjoyable it is. This is the Return Of The King of superhero movies - the epic end chapter that closes a mighty legacy in the best way possible, living up to the lofty heights of expectation, and doing justice to the great film-making that has gone before in the MCU's past 11 years.

For those of you who have no idea what's going on, Endgame follows on from the events of Infinity War, which saw big bad Thanos snap his weaponised, gauntleted fingers and wipe out 50 per cent of life in the universe. Haunted by their inability to have stopped him, the surviving Avengers try to get on with their lives, and figure out what to do next.

At three hours long, Endgame is no mere final fling. It's a deep heartfelt look at the characters that helped turned the MCU into the biggest film franchise of all time. It's no accident that six of the superheroes that survived The Snappening are the six original Avengers - Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow. As much as this is Marvel reaping the story seeds it sowed when the first Infinity Stone appeared in Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011, it's also about taking an overarching look at how far those original Avengers have come.

Whereas Infinity War was, if nothing else, an exercise in storytelling logistics in which 20-plus supers vied for space in a cramped narrative, Endgame has the luxury of digging deeper into its starring sextet. For those six, the film is full of touching character moments, emotional notes, and references to past glories and failures. This makes the rollercoaster of the story a richer ride, raises the stakes, and pulls us deeper into the saga.

It's easy to forget the risks Marvel took with their MCU casting, in particular with comeback kid Downey Jr and the then-unknown Chrises of Hemsworth and Evans. They have repaid Marvel's benevolence in spades, and the genius of those selections has always been evident, but here it is taken to the next level. Along with Johansson, Renner and Ruffalo, they all give their best MCU performances to date, as if everything has been building to this (which it has in many ways). Their perfectness for the roles has consistently been evident over the past decade, but they all seem to be going above and beyond here.

At first glance, the plot works wonderfully, but will bear re-watching. It certainly builds to a climax that is bigger and bolder than anything Marvel has ever put on the big screen, even bigger than Infinity War. The emphasis is definitely more on character than spectacle here, but there are still plenty of great moments, including a finale that's one for the ages.

It's hard to say more without giving anything away, but the key thing here is that the benchmark for superhero superfranchises is now astronomically high. Marvel, over the course of 22 MCU films, has shown the possibilities of the genre again and again, reinventing and refocusing to avoid hero fatigue. But with Endgame they haven't just drawn a line in the sand - they've dug a grand canyon the likes of which we may never see again.

Shazam

(M) ★★★½

Director: David F. Sandberg.

Cast: Asher Angel, Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Grazer, Faithe Herman, Grace Fulton, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Marta Milans, Cooper Andrews, Djimon Hounsou. 

Static electricity pranks never get old.

The superhero movie market is clogged, so how do you find a new way to tell the age-old origin story? Shazam's answer is to give its modern-day story an '80s vibe that blends wacky kid antics and body-swap humour with some slightly darker moments, all the while making sure it doesn't take itself too seriously.

The big influence is, ah, Big, but other '80s action-comedies with a hint of mysticism and dashes of kiddie-unfriendly horror - Ghostbusters, Big Trouble In Little China, The Goonies, etc - are the touchstones that help make this feel different to 95 per cent of the superpowered stories out there.

The hero at the centre of it all is Shazam (Levi), the Superman-esque alter-ego of 14-year-old foster kid Billy Batson (Angel). Having unwillingly received his powers from a desperate wizard, Billy must adapt to his new skill set while being perceived as an adult.

As a foster kid, he's had to grow up fast, but he's about to learn that he's not a real grown-up yet. He's also about to learn that with great power comes something something... especially when the big bad Dr Sivana (Strong) shows up.

Compared to the rest of the DCEU, Shazam feels Marvel-esque, almost like a kiddie-friendly, less-overtly-meta version of Deadpool. It's funny, with a lot of laughs coming from poking fun at superhero tropes, but it also has a pretty consistent and enjoyable tone throughout. For the most part.

The biggest downside is the opening. The film starts incredibly awkwardly, failing to get its mix of all-ages goofiness and dark undertones right. In fact, it takes an inordinate amount of time for the tone to click into place - almost the entire first act - but when it finally does, it works.

A lot of credit goes to Levi for his grown-up-is-really-a-teen performance. It's a tough line to ride because Billy's character is a weird mix of old-beyond-his-years and adolescent overconfidence, but Levi nails it, helping to make Billy/Shazam a vulnerable and interesting figure. The dynamic between Billy/Shazam and his foster brother Freddy (Grazer) is also excellent, adding an extra level of sidekick angst and teenage inadequacy to the mix.

A lot of this stems from one of the film's many strong suits - its foster home setting. Sandberg and the writers Henry Gayden and Darren Lemke tap into this to find Shazam's major themes - feeling comfortable in your own skin, finding your place in the world, and the importance of family. The foster home factor, combined with the superhero story, means all of this gets explored in fascinating, unexpected and sometimes unconventional ways.

Another plus is Strong, who is an under-rated actor. His chops and the solid script mean Dr Sivana is more than a one-note scenery-chewer. Sivana's backstory, despite its awkward start, is far richer than a lot of supervillains, and it goes a long way towards making Sivana more interesting and the story more enjoyable.

Refreshingly, especially for a DCEU film, Shazam has an ending that isn't just a blizzard of CG. It has actual people in actual peril, and the finale is all the better for it.

All of these things make Shazam the second-best film in the DCEU (after Wonder Woman). This is damning it with faint praise because its also only the second genuinely good DCEU entry (after Wonder Woman). But Shazam is fun and funny, and while DC's long-term filmic plans look all-over-the-shop from the outside, this is at least a good film in its own right, without being too worried about where it fits in to the broader franchise.

Wonder Park

(PG) ★★★½

Director: Dylan Brown. 

Cast: (voices of) Brianna Denski, Ken Hudson Campbell, Mila Kunis, John Oliver, Norbert Leo Butz, Oev Michael Urbas, Jennifer Garner, Matthew Broderick, Ryan Fitzgerald, Michael Wipfli.

Bacon was back on the menu.

Firstly, let's get something out of the way. This movie is about a fictional theme park called Wonderland, yet the movie is called Wonder Park. I can't figure out why the movie isn't called Wonderland unless it's because of some kind of copyright issue, in which case why didn't they just call the theme park in the movie Wonder Park and be done with it? Who knows.

That aside, Wonder Park is a surprisingly layered adventure about the power of imagination, overcoming depression, growing up, and how tragedies can shape us in a positive way. This might seem like a lot for a kids film, but it's a refreshing level of thematic depth that helps overcome many of the movie's shortcomings.

The story follows June (Denski), a young girl who uses her imagination to build a theme park called Wonderland in her bedroom with her mother (Garner). This long-running game morphs into a physical toy that June and her mum build, which slowly takes over much of their house.

When her mother has to go away for a while, June decides Wonderland isn't any fun anymore and packs it away. But while walking through the woods near her town one day, June stumbles across a real Wonderland that has fallen into ruin, its occupants besieged by an attacking force known as The Darkness (no, not that Darkness).

A coming of age tale dealing with deep emotions, but dressed in a bright, bubbly and accessible manner involving theme parks and imagination? That's somewhat reminiscent of Pixar's Inside Out. But let's be clear - this isn't even close to Inside Out's brilliance. However it does strive for a level of maturity and intelligence that is impressive, and it succeeds more often than it fails.

The failures come from some lacklustre dialogue, a sense the film if running out of ideas by its third act, and some flat or uninspired voice performances. As much as I adore John Oliver's work, his efforts here grind my gears, while Denski often sounds too old for the role of June (although it's hard to gauge her age). 

There is a familiarity about it all that's a little irksome too. It's part-Alice in Wonderland or Spirited Away, part-Inside Out, part-Neverending Story, but the theme park idea sustains the film across its blissfully short running time. 

For the most part, Wonder Park works. For the youngsters, the talking animals and some great action sequences (most notably an awesome scene in which June builds her own rollercoaster-esque ride) will be enough to keep them entertained. As the audience gets older, Wonder Park reveals more wonders. What it has to say about mental health, imagination, and growing up is worth listening too, and it says these things in interesting ways.

Big ideas and a handful of inventive moments of excitement help make this worthwhile for all ages. While it's not without its mis-steps, Wonder Park is better than its trailer and premise suggest, providing a colourful and thoughtful piece of family entertainment.

Dumbo (2019)

(PG) ★★★

Director: Tim Burton.

Cast: Colin Farrell, Nico Parker, Finley Hobbins, Danny DeVito, Michael Keaton, Eva Green, Roshan Seth, DeObia Oparei, Joseph Gatt, Alan Arkin.

It was the ugliest puppy anyone had ever seen.

Tim Burton and Dumbo - it seems like a match made in heaven, right? Burton specialises in outsider stories drenched in magical realism with a hint of oddball darkness, and a live-action remake of Dumbo has the potential to fit that description to a tee.

On paper it should work, and when Dumbo finds its wings, you really will believe an elephant can fly. But it's what on the paper - ie. the script - that keeps the film regularly stuck on the ground instead of soaring.

The at-times clumsy and over-long screenplay sticks close to the core and heart of the original, although it does away with the anthropomorphised animals and tells the tale from the point of view of the humans. These are primarily the Farrier family - returned soldier and father Holt (Farrell), and his two kids Milly (Parker) and Joe (Hobbins) - who are part of the Medici Brothers' Circus.

Led by Max Medici (DeVito), the circus acquires a new elephant who is in calf and soon delivers a baby that will come to be called Dumbo. Born with overly huge ears, these are initially seen as a handicap, until Dumbo discovers he can use them to fly.

This incredible stunt attracts the attention of theme park owner V. A. Vandevere (Keaton), who sees Dumbo as the key to huge wealth. But all Dumbo wants is to be reunited with his mother.

Disney's much-loved 70-minute original - the shortest of the Disney classics - has been expanded into a two-hour feature, and the core of the story works but unfortunately the script is bloated and contrived in places. It still contains many of the beautiful things and themes that made the original so magical, remaining a touching tale of overcoming adversity, embracing what makes you special, and the importance of family, all wrapped around a cute little pachyderm doing something wondrous.

But it takes a lot of missteps along the way. There are unnecessary characters (Arkin's financier J. Griffin Remington key among them), unrewarding subplots (Milly's passion for science is talked about incessantly but never shown), and contrivances that make the story creak (the way the film reaches its fiery conclusion is one of many plot points set-up in a terribly awkward fashion).

The writing doesn't do some of the cast any favours either. Farrell's Farrier spends much of the film lamenting his lack of parenting skills, but making little effort to improve them, all the while expecting the audience to think things are all good by the end. Arkin gets some of the worst lines that amplify the fact his character is unnecessary. As for Keaton's Barnum-esque villain, it's hard to know if the writing is to blame or whether it's his performance that makes his character so uneven. At times cartoonish, at times not, Keaton (or possibly Burton) seems unable to decide how Vandevere should be portrayed, making Vandevere a wobbly and unconvincing baddie.

It's a shame, because otherwise the film has moments of beauty and magic. Eva Green's Colette is an interesting character, as is DeVito's Medici, and the story elevates when they're around. Same goes for Parker, who doesn't seem like your standard cookie-cutter kid character, and Seth as the Medici circus' resident snake charmer Pramesh, but it would have been nice for both of these characters, especially Pramesh.

In the scheme of Burton's filmography, it's toward the lower end of the scale, down with Planet Of Apes and Dark Shadows. There are occasional flourishes of his best stuff (such as Nightmare Island and the introduction to Medici's circus), but this isn't up there with the classic Burton storytelling of Edward Scissorhands and Big Fish, largely because the script isn't as good or as in tune with Burton's sensibilities as it should have or could have been.

With some judicious editing and a sharper script, Dumbo would have flown more smoothly. At its best, which is when the flying elephant is doing its thing, the film has that same sense of magic and spectacle that the original had. But at its worst it clunks its way to a surprisingly satisfying ending that makes you wonder why it couldn't have all been like that.