No one is thrilled about Netflix with ads. Maybe—or maybe not—it has to be done, financially. But are we really ready for what they have in store for us with their feature-length collaboration with the Wendy’s fast food restaurants?

That’s right. Wendy’s the restaurant is now a movie, WENDY, in the style of BARBIE.

What worries us here is how much we like it. BARBIE could have been a giant toy commercial of kid-story fluff, but it was constantly inventive, entertaining, and shocked everyone with its hilarious yet visceral take-down of male culture and the impossibly complex life that women have to lead these days.

So WENDY can actually be something—hey, keep an open mind—that opens up the possibilities of that world…

We got a look at an early cut of the movie, and… you should get your hopes up.

WENDY the movie is a bright, fun-loving comical romp with the Wendy character played in live-action by a newcomer who completely entrances us with her sprightly optimistic personality even as she seems to sarcastically skewer everything around her—completely innocently, as if she has no idea how high-powered her observations are. She doesn’t mean to do anyone harm, but get on the wrong side of stupid, and her sharp wit is going to cut you.

We love it. Pigtails, freckles, blue dress and all, Wendy embodies a teenager with style and an innocence we constantly wonder about; is it all an act?

The plot itself is a comical, ELF-like engine in which Wendy encounters the most amazing hamburger of her life—one spiced by a magical wizard who works at a corner fast-food restaurant called Sizzle Sizzle. The spices quite literally begin to change Wendy into a super-powered teen girl. The funny part is, she refuses to believe and accept it.

Even as she seems to be gaining super-strength and a strange way of sensing danger, she completely denies it to everyone and herself. She’s just, as she puts it, too simple a girl to have all that going on.

It’s rather comical to have a CLUELESS-styled world with a girl who is turning into WONDER WOMAN but absolutely doesn’t see it. Even when she throws a garbage can across town from a quick and vanishing fit of anger, still Wendy cannot see what she truly is.

But the powers keep growing. Soon Wendy has the ability to levitate, to charm people effortlessly, and to read people’s minds.

These powers draw the attention of some dangerous people who want to kidnap Wendy, which drives some of the plot, alongside her romantic high school interests and her obsession with chemistry and getting a university scholarship in the field.

Those who come after Wendy form the centerpiece hilarity and the amazing climax. It seems her little town has kind of a gang problem. And check out the gangs: there is a group that dresses like clowns… a group that dresses like Southern colonels… a group that masquerades as an evil mariachi band. You got it. Wendy is up against gangs that reflect Mickey Ds, Jack n the Box, KFC, and Taco Bell…

We’re going to say it. It works.

The situation becomes a great, enjoyable way of discussing every possible issue of teenage life in end-stage capitalism. This is a wry parody of vapid teenagers and fast-food culture all about disposability and speed, but it’s also about the healing of generation gaps, music differences, and the under-appreciated joy of being alive in the incredibly-accommodating and convenient modern age.

We don’t know what Netflix got paid to do this, but it’s not a terrible thing. And not a terrible trend if it becomes one. How many people would really hate a feature-length version of Will Farrell as Colonel Sanders? Especially if it comes with your monthly subscription anyway… methinks they’re onto something. Pass the fries.

If you want to see it, or let Netflix know what you think of it, you have to contact them about their hidden menu. You know how they do it: Support@netflix.com.

For the podcast that brought attention to this story, click here: https://youtu.be/NIkGqlIcieA

To have this page read to you with a narrator app, click this link: https://youtu.be/7qsfC5_8Eas