Zachary Levi returns as the hapless, selfinvolved crime-fighter in a zesty sequel that, though funny, doesn’t entirely shatter the superhero-movie template.

The first Shazam movie from 2019 was praised for its lighter, brighter worldview, its Gen-Z brio and for being generally unencumbered by the portentous and spurious gloom of earlier DC films. This is true of this sequel too, only it’s hard not to notice that it could simply be fitting into another boilerplate model. A group of superheroes, all with cartoony character traits and a sprinkling of funny lines, wind up battling an intergalactic invasive menace, culminating in the usual spectacular but unserious CGI urban apocalypse, with people saying things like: “This ends tonight!”

This new Shazam film is cordial, with a puppyish good nature and an awareness of its own silliness; it gestures towards diversity with a gay character (although we might not stop at one as the Shazam franchise develops). There are some nice lines here and Mirren, Liu and Djimon

Hounsou (as the ancient wizard) have some fun with their roles – albeit while looking as if the subject of what they’re having for supper after the day’s shooting isn’t far from their minds. I have to say that we don’t entirely break free of the superhero-movie template, but Shazam two has a just-out-of-the-fridge orange juice taste that makes it likable.