“Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Film” is an expertise akin to having glitter thrown into your face, over and over.
It’s a capably animated and produced however chaotically written enlargement of a Netflix animated kids’s present that I mistakenly hoped my daughter had grown out of, however no such luck.
The plot: Gabby (performed by the unfailingly enthusiastic Laila Lockhart Kraner) goes on a visit to Cat Francisco to go to her Grandma. She is performed by Gloria Estefan, however bizarrely, her character by no means sings.
Cat Francisco, along with sporting a Golden Gate Bridge with cat ears, is house to a weird kitty litter mogul named Vera (Kristin Wiig).
As soon as Vera eyes Gabby’s dollhouse, which has rolled down the hill and in entrance of Vera’s automotive, the dollhouse is snatched, Vera locations it on a mantel in her cat-obsessed area. Gabby, to be able to take motion, should summon her superpower of reworking right into a smaller, CGI model of herself.
How does she do that? She sings, “I pinch on my left, I pinch on my proper….” This occurs rather a lot.
The place to start with what’s incorrect with this film?
‘Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Film’ hits theaters in the present day, that includes a brand new track “Dollhouse World” from #Kpop lady group #Aespa. THR has an unique first take a look at the four-member group recording the track within the official lyric video https://t.co/pA9kmowEok pic.twitter.com/8Vw8LY1OtD
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 26, 2025
How in regards to the rushed high quality to the screenplay, credited to 4 writers and filled with incident however by no means permitting character or stakes to construct. Gabby is at all times “on,” unbreakable in her cheeriness, and steadily breaks the fourth wall.
The final time I loved an actor speaking on to me was Matthew Broderick, and that was in 1986. Gabby conspires with us so usually, I needed a fifth and sixth wall to be constructed instantly.
The story darts from the true world to CGI domains usually, however by no means absolutely develops the handfuls of latest characters and places that preserve popping up. A subplot involving Chumsley, Vera’s former greatest buddy and childhood toy, is a rehash of the “When She Beloved Me” sequence from “Toy Story 2” (1999).
A lot of scenes really feel lifted from different Pixar, DreamWorks and Blue Sky Studio CGI fests, although the film this jogged my memory of probably the most is John Krasinski’s dreadful “IF” (2024) and the awful “Harold and the Purple Crayon” that occupied this precise area in theaters a 12 months in the past.
One of the best character within the collection, CatRat, is barely on this, whereas the terrible DJ Catnip, who enters a room declaring “Wiggle-wiggle!” is on this far an excessive amount of. I hate DJ Catnip. I hate him as a result of his dialogue is at all times inane (a number of gems like “Get your meow on!”) and since the character is a DJ who demonstrates how crowded dance events and clubbing are enjoyable.
Keep in mind, it is a present (and now a film) for very babies.
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Wiig’s preliminary entrance is promising, as she’s taking part in it in a knowingly campy key that’s totally different from the remainder of the movie. I hoped Wiig would save the movie; as a substitute, she does right here what she supplied for “Surprise Lady 1984” (2020), rising as the perfect factor in a foul film.
Vera has a Mr. Bigglesworth-like cat sidekick that ought to have gotten straightforward laughs, however the expression on the feline’s face mirrored my very own. That cat seems so depressing to be on this.
The one humorous scene is a TV advert demonstrating the effectiveness of Vera’s product, which is purple, sparkly kitty litter formed like a turd. Truly, a turd fabricated from sparkly kitty litter is my on the spot assessment of this film.
Am I not the appropriate viewers for this? Nope, good attempt. A few of my favourite motion pictures weren’t for anybody remotely like me, however nice motion pictures transcend demographics and might join with anybody.
I could also be rather a lot older than a lot of the viewers for “Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Film” however I used to observe that collection each Saturday morning. I couldn’t anticipate every cutesy-wootsy episode to finish, so my little lady and I might watch the much better “Tru and the Rainbow Kingdom,” “Sheriff Calley” and “Puffin Rock” (why couldn’t a type of grow to be a film?!).
When it was over, I requested my ecstatic daughter what number of stars she’d charge this, and he or she replied, “A Lot!” My evaluation is under.
One and a half stars (out of 4)
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