{"id":32098,"date":"2025-09-24T20:40:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T03:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=32098"},"modified":"2025-09-24T20:40:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T03:40:42","slug":"gabbys-dollhouse-transfixes-infants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=32098","title":{"rendered":"GABBY\u2019S DOLLHOUSE: THE MOVIE Transfixes Infants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 98 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature film from Universal Pictures opens\nexclusively at theaters on September 26th<\/sup>, 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some family movies are made for all ages. Others, well, are\ngeared specifically towards one particular group. So, how does one review a\nfeature that has been created for a completely different demographic? Another\nfriendly critic suggested to me that a good way is to watch the target audience\nand see how they react. While youngsters do need to get up and use the washroom\nduring a show, if a picture doesn\u2019t work, you will see kids become fussy,\nshuffle and be escorted out a few times by parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attending the preview of Gabby\u2019s Dollhouse: The Movie<\/em>,\nI was with a 4-year-old and surrounded by various families, where I noticed a\nvery amusing trend occurring. The youngsters all sat in rapt attention during\nthe show. In fact, they were well-behaved and completely engrossed, to the\npoint where I don\u2019t think that waving my hand in front of their faces would\nhave done much to disengage them. Several parents, on the other hand, were\nleaving the theater for significant periods of time. It was exactly the reverse\nof what I was anticipating (I did my job, and sat through the entire film with\nmy little guest).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For those unfamiliar with the Netflix series, Gabby (Laila\nLockhart Kraner) is the owner of a magical dollhouse populated by various cats.\nWhen she puts on a pair of cat ears and repeats a saying, she can shrink down\ninto the toy environment. An animated version of Gabby appears in this world\nand plays with the likes of Pandy (Logan Bailey), CatRat (Donovan Patton),\nMerCat (Secunda Wood), DJ Catnip (Eduardo Franco) and many others. In this\ntale, Gabby is visited by her grandmother (Gloria Estefan), who decides to take\nher to Cat Francisco so they can work on a special project together. The\nprotagonist takes the dollhouse with her, but shortly after arriving, it rolls\naway down the street. Vera (Kristen Wiig), the wealthy, not-particularly\nfriendly president of a kitty litter company, takes the toy to add to her toy\ncollection. Gabby must find the dollhouse and her friends before they are\nseparated forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It doesn\u2019t take too long for Gabby to find Vera\u2019s home, and\nwhat follows are a series of genial episodes in which the lead travels to\ndifferent areas on the property, finds each cat-friend, encounters a slight\nobstacle, overcomes it and then sings a well-produced, if somewhat benign,\nsong. Until the final act, it follows immediately recognizable and familiar\nstory beats. And, as mentioned, there is nothing about the adventure, at least\nearly on, that will command the attention of older viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But compared to the show, there is a noticeably higher grade\nof production value. Vera\u2019s house is impressively designed, with bizarre\ncat-centric items all around the home. And, when the film transitions to\nvarious animated environments, the rainbow-like color scheme is extra bright\nand swirly, with a grander and more elaborate scope. Truth be told, the music,\ncutting and intense colors are likely what is transfixing youngsters. Gabby\nalso occasionally asks for help from audience members, asking them to say\nfamiliar lines from the show and work together to accomplish goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Things do hit a bigger and more interesting snag when\nChumsley (Jason Mantzoukas), Vera\u2019s favorite childhood toy that has been long\nforgotten, decides to take over the dollhouse. This forces Gabby to contend\nwith the fact that she may be growing out of her dollhouse adventures. It leads\nto a climax featuring the movie\u2019s most visually striking animated sequence.\nGabby must not only attempt to help Vera and her toy reconnect, but deal\nherself with growing up (which I\u2019m sure many parents have wondered about the\nsolitary character since the series began). For grown-ups, this is more\ninteresting than earlier sections of the picture. And, of course, Wiig does\ndeliver a couple of laughs for adults still paying attention. There\u2019s a gag\nwhere she attempts to improvise her own mystical song with hilariously dark\nlyrics that did make me laugh out loud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, Gabby\u2019s Dollhouse: The Movie<\/em> is most certainly\nnot for those whose age features double-digits. But, like the show, it is\nsweet-natured and offers positive messages. The credits also suggest that the\nseries will soon head in a new direction. This film is certainly not for me,\nbut I can\u2019t deny the effect that it had on children in the audience. They were\ncaptivated and quiet throughout. The unsolicited reaction from the 4-year-old\nsitting next to me was, \u201cI loved it!\u201d For that reason (and the fact I might be\nslain in my sleep for rating it any lower) this reviewer will simply warn\nadults and give the film a child-appropriate score.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 98 minutes This feature film from Universal Pictures opens exclusively at theaters on September 26th, 2025. Some family movies are made for all ages. Others, well, are geared specifically towards one particular group. So, how does one review a feature that has been created for a completely different demographic? Another friendly critic suggested […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[216,1467,4020,4226,4236,8032,8033,8034,8035,8036,8393,10428,11663,11899,12032,12535,14680,14681,18998,23383,23392,23571],"class_list":["post-32098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-216","tag-animation","tag-cats","tag-children","tag-childrens-film","tag-gabby-cat","tag-gabbys-dollhouse-the-movie","tag-gabbys-dollhouse-the-movie-film-review","tag-gabbys-dollhouse-the-movie-movie-review","tag-gabbys-dollhouse-the-movie-review","tag-gloria-estefan","tag-jason-mantzoukas","tag-kids-film","tag-kristen-wiig","tag-laila-lockhart-kraner","tag-live-action","tag-netflix","tag-netflix-series","tag-steaming-series","tag-tv-series","tag-tv-to-film-adaptation","tag-universal-pictures"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32098\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}