Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie

Ryan Crego

Karina Herrera-Cavazos

“Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie” is a theatrical adaptation of the popular Netflix kid’s series of the same name. The movie follows Gabby (Laila Lockheart Kraner) on a mission to retrieve her magical dollhouse from Vera (Kristen Wiig), after misplacing it during a visit to her grandmother in Cat Francisco.

The deeper conflict of the movie lies with Gabby realizing that she is growing up. Early in the film, her grandma makes a big scene of how much taller she has gotten. There is also the parallel between Gabby and Vera, where Vera serves as the premonition for the loss of creativity and imagination in adulthood. This theme is no doubt connected to how Kraner has grown up in real life since Gabby’s Dollhouse premiered, going from twelve to seventeen during its run-time!

In response to this, the film argues the importance of fostering creativity and imagination and reconnecting with your childhood passions. As a young adult, it’s easy to get caught up in how adults “should” be. But Gabby and her cat friends remind us that creativity and imagination are important traits to nurture, whether you’re a kid or an adult.

As an animation lover, I loved the film’s cute and colorful visuals! The music is also very catchy and I’ll no doubt have the soundtrack stuck in my head for a while. (My favorite track is the aptly named and silly, “Skibidi Meow.”) Overall, if you want to watch a fun animated musical about connecting with your inner child, I wholly recommend Gabby’s Dollhouse.