Shazaam

Grade: A+

The 1990s brought us a string of genie movies, starting with DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp in 1990. I’m not sure why we got at least four within 6 years. Perhaps the world still had the blues (reeling from Nelson Mandela’s death a couple of years before), and studios wanted to inject some hope into moviegoers’ hearts with fun fantasy pictures about wish-granters. Sandwiched in between Aladdin in 1992 and Kazaam (starring Shaquille O’Neal) in 1996 was Shazaam (out in 1994), with Sinbad doing the honors as the genie. Shazaam emerges the unmitigated masterpiece, plain and simple. No other word for it. It steps out of the box, and lives and breathes.

A family of four is now down to three, due to the mother’s recent passing. The grief-stricken husband becomes a workaholic (Phil Hartman has some nice moments as the complimentary but sometimes weird boss). The pre-teen brother and sister finally bring themselves to venture into the attic to take a look at mom’s old belongings and keepsakes. Amidst the random empty containers of Fruit Loops, Jiffy peanut butter, Oscar Meyer wrappers, and discarded Ed McMahon Publisher’s Clearing House envelopes (“she always was a bit of a litterbug,” they say), they find a strange golden lamp. Wiping off the dust brings out a long-dormant genie. Shazaam (Sinbad) gives the kids the usual spiel about 3 wishes, and an interesting plot point we learn here is he granted wishes to the mother when she was a child.

I would not dare reveal exactly what is wished for, and why, as that would spoil the experience of taking the journey with these characters. They are truly well fleshed-out, with a cogent screenplay to boot, that encapsulates the human condition so much. What I will tell you about are the attempted wishes not granted because they are against the rules. Shazaam has to make it clear that he can’t bring people back from the dead or make people fall in love with others – so, unfortunately, that’s a no-can-do on bringing mom back OR getting a new girlfriend for dad. Sinbad – a talented comedian and one of our great underrated actors – handles these moments with an impeccable sense of poignancy and dramatic gravitas. The special effects are the best you could hope to see in 1994, and beyond. The needle-drops on the soundtrack include the likes of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams Are Made of These” and Cat Stevens’ “Cat’s in the Cradle.”

The children are played by Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Mara Wilson. Wilson is best known as the title character from Matilda, and Robin Williams and Sally Fields’s youngest daughter in Mrs. Doubtfire. Thomas was pulling the sitcom/movie double duty, filming this while shooting Home Improvement – much like Michael J. Fox’s Family Ties/Back to the Future dual life a decade before. Thomas and Wilson are magnificent together – the greatest chemistry between two actors I’d seen in any movie, until a couple guys named John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson took Hollywood by storm later that year. There’s a certain visceral sweetness to their rapport, whether it’s reminiscing about their last vacation as a whole family (visiting the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island), or debating which Berenstein Bear is their favorite and why. There are sad stories, too. Mom was always a Thanksgiving connoisseur with a second-to-none cranberry sauce recipe. They lament that the third Thursday of November will feel quite different from here on out.

It’s hard to articulate why Shazaam has resonated with me so much. It’s not elegant, upstanding cinema, but when it comes to this genre, I haven’t seen a more perfect movie. This is a film that is bursting with originality and buzzing with life. It’s a cinematic miracle that never falters or missteps. It has lived with me for 30 years now. Departed loved ones may be gone, but they are not forgotten. We have our memories. Trust your memories. They will never steer you wrong.

Grade: A+