“Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie” (2025) is Dreamworks film adaptation of its Netflix series, “Gabby’s Dollhouse.” Combining live action with animation, Gabby (Laila Lockhart Kraner) goes on a road trip with her Grandma Gigi (Gloria Estefan), the person who built the dollhouse, to Gigi’s house in Cat Francisco, and yes, expect a lot of cat related morphing of words. After promising to play with the Gabby Cats forever, Gabby brings the dollhouse containing all the Gabby Cats on the trip. When Cat Rat gets up to shenanigans, the dollhouse rolls away and winds up at a store where Vera (Kristen Wiig) and her cat, Malena (Jonesy the Cat, a Devon Rex, not related to the orange cat in “Alien”), immediately buys it and take their new purchase to her lavish house and grounds. Fortunately, Gabby brought her magical cat ears and Pandy Paws, a stuffed animal that she carries everywhere. When Gabby puts on her cat ears, sings a special song and holds Pandy Paws’ paw, she gets tiny and can enter the dollhouse while Pandy Paws comes alive. The ears also permit her to change her appearance to fit the situation. To locate her lost friends, she gets tiny and for the first time ever, gets transported to Vera and Malena’s home. Will she be able to keep her promise, recover the Gabby Cats and dollhouse, and play forever?
If you are interested in a review from someone who has never seen an episode of the Netflix series but commits to watching Kristen Wiig in every movie regardless of interest in every and any other aspect of the film and has an irrational love of cats, stick around. Everyone else, feel free to move on. A running gag in the film is that as Vera notices tiny people running around her house, animated objects and weird rituals such as Gabby breaking the fourth wall and interacting with the audience, Vera responds like any normal person would and asks what is going on. God bless director Ryan Crego, who came up with the movie’s overarching story, Melanie Wilson LaBracio and Adam Wilson, who are credited as writers likely for writing the story and working on the screenplay, and Mike Lew and Rehana Lew Mirza, who are credited for writing the screenplay. If you watch a half hour of the show, it does not really seem to have a story, but is a kids’ show which is more intended to stimulate the senses to sharpen development, occupy time in different structured segments, and does not require any structure to the story. Even though adults will find it challenging to stay engrossed the entire time and may find themselves napping, people need to appreciate the amount of effort put into the work.
If you see the first episode, Gabby looks like a kid, and at the start of “Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie,” she looks more like she is going to college, not grandma’s house. The writers wisely decided to deal with the elephant in the room: a teenage girl on the verge of adulthood who still plays with toys, has no friends that are not imaginary and breaks into a stranger’s house. Is she neurodivergent (compliment)? Maybe. She is afraid of growing up because then she will turn into Vera, be filled with anxiety and forget how to play. This premise is actually brilliant. As I looked around the theater at the audience, I saw some young girls facing that same dilemma. They looked older than the targeted demographic, and they are probably struggling with the same fears. At times, this movie may be torture for adults, but it may still be worth watching to help a kid address unarticulated fears. So the audience can expand from preschoolers to older kids.
If I had a problem with “Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie,” it was the lack of real cats. Sorry, fans, no Floyd. Marlena will have to do. For adults, Vera and Marlena’s life may be the most appealing part of the movie. Vera is the worst-case scenario of Gabby’s future, but no offense, Vera is goals. She is a successful, single businesswoman, modernized the Disney Evil Queen’s fashion choices for a still chic, but more comfortable fit and spends all day chatting with her cat. If she does not want to play with strangers who happen to be children, that decision seems wise and appropriate. Playing with kids without knowing their grownups seems like a good way to get in trouble. Kitty Ranger #1 (Kate Whiddington) also had eyes on the dollhouse, but once she finds out about Vera’s good digs, she wants in, but um, where are the rangers’ adults?
The adults in “Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie” have no idea where their children are regardless of the time. If the story had a flaw, it is that Kitty Ranger provides a happy, accidental distraction for Gabby to retrieve her property, but it involves Vera retrieving money, which would presumably be in the purse, which is exactly where Gabby and the Gabby Cats are at that point in the story. Otherwise, the story is not as bumpy as it could be. Another possible criticism is the lack of boys and men, which is probably not a real issue since adults raise children in gender normative ways and would probably fight any boy who dared to show interest in this franchise. And I’m not kidding. People threaten to kill their kids if they think that they are gay, trans and just not adhering to gender norms. Hell, some people think that it is gay to be attracted to women, so the bar is in hell. Wiig is perfect for “Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie.” She has always been talented in playing oversized characters grounded in reality. It is a hard balance to strike, but she mastered it. Wiig had great chemistry with Jonesy the Cat.
The alternative future for Gabby is Gigi, a colorful, fun loving, crafting, do it yourself, eccentric, single goddess. Every neighborhood has an eccentric older woman who is colorful and lives in her own world, and Gigi is emblematic of it. Do not expect the Estefan that we know and love, i.e. she is not going to be singing and dancing according to her signature, energetic style. For me, Estefan is a personal aspiration considering how she handled a life-threatening injury that broke her back. Here, she is pleasant and fun but missing for huge swaths of “Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie.” If it was not for her rich imagination and vibrant aesthetic, she would be forgettable. Someone tell Gabby’s adults that Gigi is perhaps a bit too unbothered and absorbed in her activities to take care of Gabby without incident.
If you are an adult. “Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie” is not for you. Since the franchise is trying to figure out how to calibrate the franchise as Kraner gets older, it will be interesting to see how the storyline continues without turning it into a horror movie. The filmmakers should watch a ton of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” and emulate his love of imagination without the emptiness of self-serving fun. The final scenes signal the communal nature of play, which is the right way to go.
