Gabby’s Dollhouse hit Netflix in 2021 and became an instant hit for the streaming service. Fast forward four years and eleven seasons later, the series culminates in a theatrical release with Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie. Will it be a worthy send off for the franchise? Or fizzle out for a property that’s past its prime?
Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie follows Gabby (Laila Lockhart Kraner), a teenage girl who can “get tiny” by wearing a magical cat-ears headband, which allows her to play in her magical dollhouse with her toy-sized cat companions. Crafted by her loving Grandma Gigi (Gloria Estefan), the dollhouse accompanies Gabby on a visit to the fictional city of Cat Francisco. But when the dollhouse accidentally rolls down the road, a self-indulgent cat enthusiast Vera (Kristen Wiig), picks it up and scatters the Gabby Cats to across her vast cat collection. Gabby must hurry to rescue her mini kitties before its too late.
For fans of the show, it’s clear the film’s main impetus is that Laila, the young actress who plays Gabby, is aging out of her role. Even in this movie, she’s taller than all of the adults and no longer passes as a pre-teen. That said, her age doesn’t detract the film, but rather is awkwardly woven into the story midway through. Gabby aging out of imagination and playing with toys isn’t brought up in the first half, it’s only mentioned at the halfway point when it appears the filmmakers belatedly realized they needed a theme to go along with this colorful, glitter-filled adventure. Unfortunately, this feels derivative, as films like the Toy Story franchise have tackled these themes more effectively and were much more enjoyable in doing so.
Speaking of the first half, that is the better part of the film. In the TV series, live-action Gabby appears briefly in her room before being whisked off to the land of the CGI dollhouse. In Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie, we get a lot more moments in the real world, which are easily the best parts of the film. Meeting her grandmother and seeing her craft room is fun, seeing the dollhouse whiz around the streets of Cat Fransisco is antic, and even witnessing the CGI mini kitties wander around the real world feels fresh and novel.
However, once Gabby hops into the dollhouse to search for her feline friends, the film starts long to drag. The story becomes disjointed as it jumps from location to location to rescue the cats, whether it’s inside the fishtank to rescue MerCat (Secunda Wood), a garden where carved wooden figurines crown Kitty Fairy (Tara Strong) as their queen, or the dollhouse where CatRat (Donovan Patton) is captured by Vera’s old kitty plush, Chumsley (Jason Mantzoukas). Eventually Vera herself becomes animated and the plot spirals from there. By this point, the film will have lost most adults as they constantly check their watches to see how much time is left.
Kristen Wiig’s over-the-top portrayal of the villain Vera is a refreshing highlight. It seems for a period of time these histrionic characters were subdued in children’s media, but it really is one of the highlights to watch her exaggerate and stretch her comedic chops for this role. Gloria Estefan as Grandma Gigi was a surprise, helping to ground Gabby’s character, who is usually always immersed in the supernatural world.
Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie targets pre-schoolers and fans of the Netflix show. It’s not meant to be a cinematic masterpiece and, like many spin-off movies for TV shows, it won’t make a cultural ripple. It’s fun for the kids and barely bearable for the adults.
Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie hits theaters on September 26, 2025.
★★
