“Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie” is an experience akin to having glitter thrown into your face, over and over again.
It’s a capably animated and produced but chaotically written expansion of a Netflix animated children’s show that I mistakenly hoped my daughter had grown out of, but no such luck.
The plot: Gabby (played by the unfailingly enthusiastic Laila Lockhart Kraner) goes on a trip to Cat Francisco to visit her Grandma. She is played by Gloria Estefan, but bizarrely, her character never sings.
Cat Francisco, in addition to sporting a Golden Gate Bridge with cat ears, is home to a bizarre kitty litter mogul named Vera (Kristin Wiig).
Once Vera eyes Gabby’s dollhouse, which has rolled down the hill and in front of Vera’s car, the dollhouse is snatched, Vera places it on a mantel in her cat-obsessed domain. Gabby, in order to take action, must summon her superpower of transforming into a smaller, CGI version of herself.
How does she do this? She sings, “I pinch on my left, I pinch on my right….” This happens a lot.
Where to begin with what’s wrong with this movie?
‘Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie’ hits theaters today, featuring a new song “Dollhouse World” from #Kpop girl group #Aespa. THR has an exclusive first look at the four-member group recording the song in the official lyric video https://t.co/pA9kmowEok pic.twitter.com/8Vw8LY1OtD
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 26, 2025
How about the rushed quality to the screenplay, credited to four writers and full of incident but never allowing character or stakes to build. Gabby is always “on,” unbreakable in her cheeriness, and frequently breaks the fourth wall.
The last time I enjoyed an actor talking directly to me was Matthew Broderick, and that was in 1986. Gabby conspires with us so often, I wanted a fifth and sixth wall to be constructed immediately.
The story darts from the real world to CGI domains often, but never fully develops the dozens of new characters and locations that keep popping up. A subplot involving Chumsley, Vera’s former best friend and childhood toy, is a rehash of the “When She Loved Me” sequence from “Toy Story 2” (1999).
Lots of scenes feel lifted from other Pixar, DreamWorks and Blue Sky Studio CGI fests, though the movie this reminded me of the most is John Krasinski’s dreadful “IF” (2024) and the lousy “Harold and the Purple Crayon” that occupied this exact space in theaters a year ago.
The best character in the series, CatRat, is barely in this, while the awful DJ Catnip, who enters a room declaring “Wiggle-wiggle!” is in this far too much. I hate DJ Catnip. I hate him because his dialogue is always inane (lots of gems like “Get your meow on!”) and because the character is a DJ who demonstrates how crowded dance parties and clubbing are fun.
Remember, this is a show (and now a movie) for very small children.
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Wiig’s initial entrance is promising, as she’s playing it in a knowingly campy key that is different from the rest of the film. I was hoping Wiig would save the film; instead, she does here what she provided for “Wonder Woman 1984” (2020), emerging as the best thing in a bad movie.
Vera has a Mr. Bigglesworth-like cat sidekick that should have gotten easy laughs, but the expression on the feline’s face mirrored my own. That cat appears so miserable to be in this.
The one funny scene is a TV ad demonstrating the effectiveness of Vera’s product, which is purple, sparkly kitty litter shaped like a turd. Actually, a turd made of sparkly kitty litter is my instant review of this movie.
Am I not the right audience for this? Nope, nice try. Some of my favorite movies weren’t for anyone remotely like me, but great movies go beyond demographics and can connect with anyone.
I may be a lot older than most of the audience for “Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie” but I used to watch that series every Saturday morning. I couldn’t wait for each cutesy-wootsy episode to end, so my little girl and I could watch the far better “Tru and the Rainbow Kingdom,” “Sheriff Calley” and “Puffin Rock” (why couldn’t one of those become a movie?!).
When it was over, I asked my ecstatic daughter how many stars she’d rate this, and she replied, “A Lot!” My assessment is below.
One and a half stars (out of four)
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