Have you ever found yourself wondering what stirred the confectionary genius of Willy Wonka before he opened the world's most famous chocolate factory? Well, unwrap that curiosity as Katy and I share our festive holiday cheer and then sink our teeth into the sweet and emotional layers of the 2023 musical prequel, "Wonka." We're weighing in on whether this chapter was a necessary addition to the Wonka legacy or just a treat for fans, all while picking apart the highs and lows of the film. From its stand-out moments of humor to the deep dive into Wonka's friendship with the lovable Little Noodle, this movie served us a full course of heart, humor, and, yes, a little head-scratching.
Forget the golden ticket—this episode is the real prize, offering a playlist of potential earworms like "Scrub Scrub" and a dreamy reimagined "Pure Imagination," which has kids like Katy's son humming along. But it's not just about the music; we're sharing our ratings and reflecting on how "Wonka" might tie into the classic tale we all know and love. So, scoop up a comfy spot, and join the festivities as we give a hint of what's on the horizon for season four of "Natey and Katy: At the Movies." It's sure to be a buffet of cinematic delights that will have you coming back for seconds… or maybe even thirds.
Have you ever found yourself wondering what stirred the confectionary genius of Willy Wonka before he opened the world's most famous chocolate factory? Well, unwrap that curiosity as Katy and I share our festive holiday cheer and then sink our teeth into the sweet and emotional layers of the 2023 musical prequel, "Wonka." We're weighing in on whether this chapter was a necessary addition to the Wonka legacy or just a treat for fans, all while picking apart the highs and lows of the film. From its stand-out moments of humor to the deep dive into Wonka's friendship with the lovable Little Noodle, this movie served us a full course of heart, humor, and, yes, a little head-scratching.
Forget the golden ticket—this episode is the real prize, offering a playlist of potential earworms like "Scrub Scrub" and a dreamy reimagined "Pure Imagination," which has kids like Katy's son humming along. But it's not just about the music; we're sharing our ratings and reflecting on how "Wonka" might tie into the classic tale we all know and love. So, scoop up a comfy spot, and join the festivities as we give a hint of what's on the horizon for season four of "Natey and Katy: At the Movies." It's sure to be a buffet of cinematic delights that will have you coming back for seconds… or maybe even thirds.
One's a movie buff, one watches movies, just enough Together. Fun will be had by all. This is Nady and Katie at the Movies.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new episode of Nady and Katie at the Movies. I am your host, nathan aka Nady, of course, and with me on today's episode is my good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good friend, katie. Hi, katie, how are you?
Speaker 3:Good, I just there's. My air pod is not working. It's going. It's yelling at me like a cat or air.
Speaker 2:Well, at least you don't sound like a cat, so that's good On today's episode. This episode will be dropping the day after Christmas, so happy belated Christmas. If you celebrate that, did you have a good Christmas, katie?
Speaker 3:I did have a good Christmas. It was fun, but it was busy. We traveled a lot like from the day my husband's work was done to the day he had to go back, but that's okay. That's okay. It was still. It's good time with family. Always loved being with family far and near, getting to see people you don't normally see. And I'll tell you what I enjoyed seeing as part of this holiday season was possibly my favorite movie of 2023, which is wild. I can't believe I'm saying this. It was a musical.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm actually really surprised that you enjoyed the movie that we're going to be reviewing today, and that movie is Wonka, the prequel to the classic Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory starring the incomparable Jean Wilder. I'm assuming that's the version of Willy Wonka that this is based on, just by the costume choices that they chose to do in this version. But before we can even talk about it, we got to go over the synopsis. With dreams of opening a shop in a city renowned for its chocolate, a young and poor Willy Wonka discovers that the industry is run by a cartel of greedy chocolatiers. Wonka stars Timothy Chalamet, kayla Lane and Hugh Grant, and also Rowan Atkinson, aka Mr Bean, which I thought was cool that he was in this movie. So let's get right to it. The big thing about this movie is the necessity of it, and what I mean by that is is this movie necessary because we already have the Jean Wilder 1970 version?
Speaker 3:I had forgotten. The whole first half of Willy Wonka original is not in the factory. It's like very, very focused on Charlie. So I do think I'd like to know more about Wonka. We don't get anything about Wonka. We get all of Charlie's backstory but nothing about him at all. I think it's a little references to it, little nuggets. So I found myself watching it the day before thinking, ooh, slugworth, like I can't wait to see if he's in this movie, like little hints that never get addressed from that movie. So in my personal opinion, I think it's a fantastic place to go and maybe I'll get into it a little later. But just because I'm saying it's a, it should be a necessary prequel I don't know that it's necessarily was a good prequel for this movie right, and the question of consistency, storyline wise, because again, I'm assuming this is supposed to be a prequel to the gene Walder version.
Speaker 2:I think the director has even said this is supposed to be like a companion to that movie. But some of the storyline consistencies with this prequel and what gene Walder's version talks about and in the 1970 something version Doesn't really match up and some of the characters Don't really match up and we'll talk. I guess we could talk about that in a little bit, but let's talk about Wonka itself before we dive into consistency and stuff like that. So Likes, what did you like about this movie? You said that this is probably your favorite movie of 2023, which blew my mind when I watched your Quick reaction on our TikTok channel. If you haven't watched it, go ahead, watch it. I was very surprised because if you've listened to the show before, you know Katie's feelings About musicals she's not usually a fan, so I want to know what was it about this movie that made you think, oh my gosh, this is the best thing I'm well and to your point, nathan, my one of my best friends, maybe over here, is a theater major and I never saw him in a musical.
Speaker 3:That's how much Like musicals. I love you, buddy, but I'm not going Gosh. I think it goes to back to I mentioned on our Christmas episode of it's sort of the what makes Katie Katie and what makes you you Is. I come in with a lot less information and a lot less expectations and I just have to say it was the best movie because of the way it made me feel it, you know. So I wasn't as worried about the, how it blends with the other one, I wasn't as worried about All these little nitpicky things and details or if the storyline made sense in some other way or if it wasn't necessary. I'm just finding myself cracking up, laughing, crying, like a Giddy, childish smile for almost the whole time, and so, like you have to give credit where it's due for that.
Speaker 3:I thought that the jokes all landed really well. There's little parts where you're like, but almost every character I loved. I thought the bad guy, like they went way over the top with the Chocolate cartel, but then they also had sort of real seeming bad guys. I loved it. I love the relationship with Wonka and little noodle. I thought that was so precious and so sweet and I love all the aspect of family. At the end the movie I won't spoil it too much, but you know it's it just very much ends on a family note of, like you know, chocolate is better spent when you're with your friends and I love that and I like that. The good guys won. I definitely think it does go with the gene Wilder one because I noticed there was several nods like specific things he said in the movie that were like mentioned in there. Loved the songs, I won't. I could keep going so you may have to cut me off to throw in your own likes, but we'll. So we'll get back to the music.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I mean, you just listed a plethora of likes. I'm still just like, and all of the fact that you thoroughly enjoyed this movie and the fact that you Openly admitted that you never, ever supported me when I did shows and stuff, and yet you liked this Musical but so you're.
Speaker 3:You're surprised because it's me, but you know, are you also surprised because of how you felt about the movie. It's getting good reviews across. You know rotten tomatoes in audiences, but what were your thoughts?
Speaker 2:Well, I remember when this movie was first announced. Of course you know, as a fan of the original you always have that I don't know if it's gonna be as good, because gene Wilder was freaking brilliant, but I was like I'll give it a chance because of the director. Paul King directed Paddington and Paddington too, which I think are probably Probably more so. Paddington too, are probably my favorite family-friendly movies of literally all time. I Think Paddington, too, is just brilliant. It's, it's, it's adorable, it's just oozing with family friendliness. Hugh Grant is in it and he is hysterical in that.
Speaker 2:So when I heard that the director of Paddington was going to do a Wonka movie, that's what sold me on it. I, because I just think he knows how to do like just good, clean, family-friendly British movies, and that's exactly what this was. I was preparing myself for a musical because not only had we discussed that before, but I had already known pretty, pretty well beforehand that this was going to be like a musical, like there's going to be a lot of songs. I did not expect as many songs as there were. I do think that there were a lot, and I do know that the original had a good amount of songs too, but these were like song songs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they had a few more like reprises rather than like fixer seven originals.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're like very subtle songs. That's what I would call the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory songs. There were like a couple song songs in it, but those were more subtle. This one was like full out musical, which I am not saying I disliked because, as you stated before, I was a theater major and so anything theater related I'm going to enjoy. My biggest like, though, as I mentioned, is how family-friendly this is. In a in a world of Hollywood where they always got to put something in there to check the box, this movie has nothing to do with checking any boxes and I loved it. I love that I didn't have to worry that it may be down the road. If I want to show my kids this movie, that I can. This movie just was just fantastic, especially after I read reviews and articles about how the writers actually kind of had to fight against some people wanting them to make it quote unquote a little woke with some of the characters. I'm glad they didn't. It's just a really, really good family-friendly movie and I did like the songs. I did like the songs. They did bring a smile to my face.
Speaker 2:Hugh Grant I thought was funny as a Oompa Loompa. I know there was some controversy about that. Having Hugh Grant be a Oompa Loompa and not hiring an actual short person to play that character. I thought it was funny. I thought it was fine, even though I did hear that Hugh Grant himself just took it to have a job. He didn't really want to do it, he didn't like doing it, he didn't like doing the CGI stuff, the motion capture, but you couldn't tell it by his performance. He was just funny.
Speaker 2:I think Timothy Chalamet did a really good job playing Wonka. I liked the two little nods to the Gene Wilder version. I think you mentioned maybe one of them, but if you notice when he's going down the stairs he takes a few steps and then he takes a step back and then he continues walking down the steps and that's like a little extremely blink and you'll miss it. Nod to the Gene Wilder version and also the reverse it, rephrase it kind of line that he has in the movie is also a callback. So I like how they did the little nods.
Speaker 3:There was enough to like, make me smile, but there wasn't too many For a prequel movie. They did not lean heavily on reference, reference, reference, and I love that. I don't know that you appreciate that as well. I really had the exact same thoughts as you, nathan, in terms of like. I actually texted a friend. I said you have got to see this movie. I said this is the most family-friendly, friendly, non-agenda pushing movie I've seen and it's still very theatrical, very big, very colorful, has a lot of representation in terms of just like, color and pizzazz and energy and different looking people, and so it didn't feel like it was anything was in my face. It just was a story about friendship and pursuing your dreams, and that's exactly what we need. I mean, I am obsessed with this movie.
Speaker 3:And to go into songs, I'll have to ask you your favorite song Again. I could go on forever. Loved the music, kind of like Courtney Dorothy. I mean, it grows on you the more you listen. But for me, greatest Showman will still probably be the best musical I've seen in terms of best musical movie. I'm just obsessed with the soundtrack of the Greatest Showman. But this is a close second.
Speaker 3:I'm finding myself listening a lot and I think a really big piece I want to highlight is that I went with my son, my little three-year-old son, ben, and he was like, talking about it he hasn't. He could care less. When we got out of Wish Really didn't talk a ton about Paw Patrol, but he's been wanting to listen non-stop. Nathan, I am not kidding you. The only songs that are on my Spotify right now are the Willy Wonka soundtrack. We are just on repeat listening to those songs, incorporating them, dancing them. He loves the Oompa Loompa song. It's his favorite. But my favorite is Scrub Scrub, and I think my other favorite is obviously just the. You've never had chocolate like this. Just the ballad. I just want to scream it from the rooftop. So did you have a favorite song or performance?
Speaker 2:I like how they did pure imagination, but they changed the lyrics to fit the storyline. If you've seen Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, you know that pure imagination is probably one of the most iconic songs in that movie and so when I heard that they were doing that again, as a person who's a fan of the original, I was like. But I like how they didn't just word for word do a cover of it and they made it fit the storyline because he sings it towards the end of the movie, so it fits what's going on within the story. So I appreciated that. I also liked the song where he's apologizing to Noodle for what was going on in the situation and storyline. I don't know if I have like an all time favorite and I don't know if I would have this soundtrack on my playlist. My favorite musical is Mulan Rouge. Still that movie I will have on a playlist like all the time. I just really enjoyed it. Greatest Showman is also very good.
Speaker 3:It's about entertainment. I feel like it really is just about entertainment and about the performance and about the choreography. In fact there's even a funny part in one of the songs that one of the candies they eat makes them do choreograph dance. So they do this whole number and everyone's dancing. It's hysterical. Let's go to some dislikes.
Speaker 3:I think my dislikes only came after, when I was like researching again, because I always come in with just fresh perspective. I do agree with the fact that this is not an accurate prequel in terms of how are you going to go from a guy who is just the end of the movie learning about how important friendship is, and has this beautiful relationship with this little noodle girl, and then you have Jean Wilder version who, like borderline, hates children and kind of thinks they're brats and needs to teach them a lesson, and then you never really get closure on a faith those kids are alive or dead. And then same with the Oompa Loompa. Like I don't know that the Oompa Loompa's were quite like I didn't. I personally didn't like U-Grant as the Oompa Loompa I wasn't, didn't like the sassiness and sarcasm. It just didn't fit with the Oompa Loompa's that we see. Nor was there even height consistency. Like he's the size, like smaller than someone's knee, whereas in the other original Wonka movies these people are still like up to someone's shoulder. Anyway, there was some inconsistency. Inconsistency is so much so, which is my guess I think you could sneak another movie in between.
Speaker 3:I did have a friend that was like annoyed. She's like so you don't see how he learns how to like do the chocolate factory and all that, or like where he gets all his ingredients from, and I was like, hmm, like there could be something in between. Right, he has just started, but maybe he can go on an adventure Like how is he going to get the Oompa Loompa's to join him and how is he going to get all this factory? And what turns him bad? You know what he thing in his life happens. That kind of makes him isolate. Cause you hit the original Wonka movie where they're talking about, right, harley says something about how, like he closed the doors and never seen anyone. No one's seen him and something definitely does happen and maybe there's more in the works. Would you go see it? Would you want that, or are we done?
Speaker 2:I mean, I guess, to explain why he, like you say, closes himself off to the world for so many years and stops making the chocolate. And I personally thought and this is going to make me sound morbid because of how family friendly this movie was I honestly thought that the character noodle was going to die. That's what I thought. I thought the character noodle was going to die and that was going to explain why he became so cynical and closed himself off and thought so negatively against children and things like that. I don't know how it would have been explained that way, but that's what I thought was going to happen. And spoiler, that does not happen in this movie. Not saying I was disappointed in that, but I did think that that was going to be a big plot point because, to your point, how does a character that's so lively and animated and excited about everything become this kind of curmudgeon? Sure, I'll invite some kids in and it's interesting. And it would be interesting to see another Wonka and we'll see how well it does in the box office, because it is doing well, even though there aren't that many other options right now in the theater, but it would be interesting to see how he becomes the way Gene Wilder's version becomes. So my dislikes is I felt that this movie dragged a little bit. There were moments I was like OK, I get the point, I get what you're going for, I get what you're doing. Get to the point.
Speaker 2:Another dislike is, as much as I am a theater person and I love musicals, there were times that some of the songs were very close together and so it felt like one song was ending and we'd get like a really short scene and then there'd be another song. I don't think the original Willy Wonka was like that, and I know I'm trying my hardest not to compare it to the original, but because I feel like this is the Gene Wilder version, but younger, I can't help but compare. So that's where I'm at. But I feel like there are a lot of songs and sometimes they weren't spaced out well enough. Not saying they weren't good, but there were times I kind of like sighed Another song, ok, this really is a musical. Again, not saying I don't like musicals, but I feel like the song just made the movie kind of drag a little bit at times. But I still like who was?
Speaker 3:your who are your favorite and your least favorite characters Like, or who did you think was the funniest? Or maybe anyone not land for you, like Hugh Grant for me.
Speaker 2:Well, I loved that an actor I don't know his name and I'm sorry that I don't know his name, but I love that there was an actor from Downton Abbey in this movie. He plays one of the guys that's stuck in the prison bed and breakfast, so I enjoy that he was in that movie. I enjoyed that Rowan Atkinson was in this movie, even though he wasn't in it that much, which I guess that was the point. He was supposed to be like a cameo character and again, I thought Timothy Chalamet did a very good job playing the character.
Speaker 2:I think he's he's starting him off as, like I said before, very animated, over the top, excited, and so it really does beg the question are they going to make another one? And if they do, are they going to make it darker? I think they kind of have to and I appreciated that, while this is a family friendly movie, it the villains get pretty dark, which kind of echoes back to the original as well. I mean, slugworth in the original was pretty creepy, if you remember. You know he kind of corners Charlie in a dark alley, which is really weird. So I appreciated that they kind of kept that just edge of dark, but not too dark, so it stayed a family friendly movie.
Speaker 3:Yeah, ok, funny thing, nathan. We watched it in two parts like we do, and the scariest part for Ben was the oompa-loompa, because he's kind of sneaking around and it's a little bit kind of creepy like oh my gosh, what's this thing, that I'm gonna catch it in the night. And he was like, oh, the clown scares me, looks like okay, well, we now of course it'll blow this thing on. I have a quick thing. So I think some people are a little bit like wait, slugworth was a old, creepy white dude with a scar and now it's like a black guy. Correct me if I'm wrong if at the end of the Willy Wonka original movie you see that man come in and it's like, oh, this was a test. Then that wasn't Slugworth.
Speaker 2:No, it was still Slugworth. Slugworth was actually his partner.
Speaker 3:He never says that he's Slugworth, though.
Speaker 2:He does say he's Slugworth.
Speaker 3:I thought he was just like hey, this guy was friend.
Speaker 2:Slugworth was testing Charlie, acting like he was against Wonka, but Slugworth is revealed to actually be working with Wonka, so that's another story.
Speaker 3:I'll say now we definitely need to fill in here. Yeah, how did we go from I'm trying to drown you in a small child in chocolate to we're business partners and do not talk about the race change. I feel laughing.
Speaker 2:I honestly thought that's where you were going. Like we got to explain how Slugworth becomes the guy from the Willy Wonka version. It just doesn't make any sense. But that does go and I know we've done our likes and dislikes and we should probably do the rating right now. But that does go back to what we talked about at the beginning and the consistency, and that was honestly that was one of the consistency things for me.
Speaker 2:If the original Willy Wonka movie had not existed and the director had not said, hey, this is supposed to be a companion to the 1971, then it wouldn't be that big of an issue. And it's not that big of an issue. But if you're gonna say that there are inconsistencies, so that was one Slugworth. Number two is the Gene Wilder's version gives a backstory, a very brief one, but a backstory of how he met the Oompa Loompas and in this one it seems like these Oompa Loompa people came out of nowhere and people think he's crazy for thinking they exist. But they do exist, even though it does give the background that he did go to Loompa Land to get the cocoa bean. But in the original it made it seem like he became friends with them right away and that's why they came and started working with him. So the storyline's kind of muddled there too. Do you think that matters? If you're gonna say that these are companions, should the storyline be more melded together, or am I just overthinking it, like I do with most movies?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that one. But I did like this movie and I do wanna rate it. And of course I will let you show them a little sneak preview first of what we're gonna be seeing.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm actually gonna let our listeners take a listen to what we're gonna be watching on our last episode of 2023. Take a listen.
Speaker 1:Hi, baby boy talking to the fishies. You and me, son, we're different, we're special. We're connected to the land and the sea. I can't wait to introduce you to all the majestic creatures on our planet and show you how awesome this world can be. Yeah, you and me, I'm gonna kill Aquaman, even if I have to make a deal with the devil to do it. Free me from my prison and all my power will be yours. The key to this prison is the royal bloodline itself. He needs us. We're the end of the bloodline. No, we're not. Manta Tuk-tuk-tuk. He must be stopped. I'm coming for you. You'll destroy everything he holds dear. You want blood? Come here.
Speaker 3:Listen, watch same thing.
Speaker 2:That's right, we're gonna be watching Aquaman, the Lost Kingdom, the supposed last movie of the DCEU. Will Jason Momo return as Aquaman or will he come back as Lobo? Or does anybody even care anymore? I don't know, find out on our last episode of 2023. So let's go ahead and rate Wonka Katie. I can kind of guess what you're gonna say, because you absolutely loved this movie. But what would you give Wonka One to six stars?
Speaker 3:It's a five out of five for me, nathan. Like I said, I laughed, I cried, I was scared, I was smiling. I looked over six out of six, sorry. I looked over at my kid and he's enjoying it. It's a movie I could picture my parents enjoying. There you go. That's all it takes, and you know what. It's encouraged us to eat more chocolate and I don't know if that's a good thing, but it's just something fun, like with the holiday seasons being around and we're eating sweet treats. Like just makes you want to listen to the Sweet Tooth song. So love it. Six out of six, how about you?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm not gonna be as nice. I did like it. I liked the songs. I did think it dragged a little bit at times and I think they should have spaced out the songs a little bit more. And as a fan of the original, I could not help but compare it story line wise and all that fun stuff. So I'm actually going to give Wonka four out of six stars. That's not saying I didn't like it. It's not saying I don't think family should go see it, because I did appreciate the fact that there was not one check the box moment. So that is Wonka, our second to last episode of 2023. I'm really excited to tell everyone about what we're going to be doing in season four of Nadia and Katie at the movies. That's right. We are still doing the show even after this year, because we got. We just, you know, we like talking and hanging out and we like watching.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's more to see, there's more to see.
Speaker 2:There's a plethora, maybe even 250 movies worth of movies. Who knows, that could be a little hint at what we're doing. So, katie, how would you like to end this Wonka episode?
Speaker 3:You never had chocolate like this. No, you've never had chocolate like this.
Speaker 2:I was expecting a clever Oompa Loompa song.