Film Review: GABBY’S DOLLHOUSE: THE MOVIE (2025): A Fun Trip to an Animated World with Plenty of Excitement for the Little Ones
Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie Review
Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Ryan Crego, written by Traci Paige Johnson, Jennifer Twomey and Mike Lew and starring Kristen Wiig, Laila Lockhart Kraner, Carla Tassara, Tara Strong, Gloria Estefan, Donovan Patton, Sainty Nelson, Maggie Lowe, Eduardo Franco, Juliet Donenfeld, Logan Bailey, Sophia Biling, Lauren Chan, Fortune Feimster, Stephanie Jaskot, Thomas Lennon and Jason Mantzoukas.
Director Ryan Crego’s Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie is so enjoyable to watch that an adult may forget that it’s a kid’s picture. It features Kristen Wiig and Gloria Estefan in supporting roles and if one is a fan of either of those two performers, then this movie will be a sheer delight to watch as both actresses have so much fun with their roles that they’re likely to make viewers believe in the power of magic.
Of course, the true star of Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie is the young Laila Lockhart Kraner who plays the “Gabby” referred to in the film’s title. Gabby owns a dollhouse with small living dolls inside it. This dollhouse accidentally makes its way down some San Francisco-inspired hills by accident when one of the dollhouse’s occupants makes a small mistake. This opens up the door for delightful fun which mixes both animation and live action with terrifically entertaining results all around.
Gabby pinches her fake wearable ears to gain access to the dollhouse herself. She rubs the left fake ear then the right (a pinch to the left and a pinch on the right) and ends up becoming a cartoon version of herself who can go into the dollhouse and have fun with her little friends. When the wealthy owner of a successful kitty litter company, Vera (Kristen Wiig), finds the lost dollhouse, she admires its colors and takes it for herself even though a little girl on the street tells her that the item is just for kids. Vera likes to do exercises with her cat and once had a doll friend of her own – a stuffed bear named Chumsley (voice of Jason Mantzoukas), who Vera ended up stuffing in a drawer with some pen toppers as she got older.
Gloria Estefan plays Gabby’s Grandma Gigi who believes in magic and mentored Gabby throughout her young life. Soon, Gabby becomes a cartoon in order to locate the dollhouse and help her lost doll friends find their way home. That will be easier said than done as Chumsley goes AWOL from being nice and takes the dollhouse over himself when he is released from the drawer that Vera left him in all those years back.
This film mixes animation with live action very well. Laila Lockhart Kraner is an energetic and delightful actress to watch as she pours plenty of heart and soul into her characterization of Gabby. She finally locates her dollhouse friends which include Cakey (Juliet Donenfeld) who cries sprinkles whenever she gets upset. Tara Strong does the voice for another memorable character, Kitty Fairy. All bets are off when Vera becomes a cartoon herself to help Gabby out and learns some very valuable lessons in life.
There are a number of funny scenes such as when the little girl who saw Vera take the dollhouse shows up on Vera’s doorstep with her young friends to try to sell Vera a ton of things in order to get revenge on her for taking the dollhouse. It is Kristen Wiig herself, however, who makes this role a definite gem for the actress who was so great in Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar a few years back. Wiig gets to ham it up for the camera in a role she was born to play, and kids and adults alike will love when her character, Vera, becomes a cartoon herself in order to help Gabby rescue the dollhouse back from the clutches of Chumsley.
Wiig is the “straight lady” to Kraner’s happy singing and dancing Gabby who lives in happy land until Gabby realizes that she, too, could grow older and stop playing with her toys just like Vera did. Wiig has a ball here and her scenes with Gabby play so humorously that the audience will likely love every minute of their interactions together.
When Gabby becomes an animated mermaid to help save her doll friend who was thrown in a fish tank by Vera, the film stages a showstopping musical number that could keep general audiences on their toes with all its magical pizzazz. There are so many enjoyable scenes here, and Vera ends up fighting her way through animated snow to help her new friends out and to re-discover her inner child. It’s all a blast to watch.
Though the movie is certainly light as fluff, Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie is a sheer delight to behold. Estefan, as the loving grandma, is also in fine form. It’s great to see Estefan working again and the fact that her character becomes a cartoon too should be reason enough to buy a ticket. Kraner and Wiig will get the audiences into the theater, but Estefan’s character is essentially the very heart of the movie.
Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie is nothing less than a bright and sunny rainbow confection of a family film. It is a hysterically funny “G-rated” family picture that will keep young viewers in awe thanks to the superb animation and production values and this film should entertain older audiences as well as it goes through its child-like story line with enough humor and heart to keep a smile plastered on the viewer’s face from ear to ear from beginning to end. I pinched my ear on the left and pinched my ear to the right at the end and discovered I actually enjoyed having a blast with Gabby and her friends.
Rating: 7.5/10
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