If you have children of the appropriate age you will be familiar with the cat-obsessed Netflix show Gabby’s Dollhouse. It’s sunny, sweet and wholesome; a crafting bonanza packed with kitty catchphrases like “pawesome!” and “ab-so-cat-a-loutely”. The series’ super-likable star Laila Lockhart Kraner plays Gabby, a girl who shrinks down to become a tiny cartoon version of herself to play in her doll’s house.
The movie comes just in time for Lockhart Kraner, who is 17 and won’t be able to pull off playing with doll’s houses for much longer. (The ending of the film gives a strong hint where the producers might be taking their franchise in the post-Lockhart Kraner future). It begins with Gabby visiting her grandma (Gloria Estefan), taking along her doll’s house and its inhabitants, including magical Kitty Fairy who cries sprinkles as tears.
The film, like the TV show, does not really exist for adults; there are no winks in the script or clever one-liners. Though what it does have is Kristen Wiig channelling sad Cruella as the film’s cat lady villain Vera, the CEO of a cat litter empire. Vera is the ultimate cat lady, who dresses her grumpy hairless Siamese in mini-me matching outfits. She’s not evil as such: just a grownup who has forgotten how to use her imagination. Vera doesn’t want to play with Gabby’s doll’s house, she wants to display it as a collectible.
The plot shamelessly dips into the world of Toy Story, which did not bother the two eight-year-olds I watched it with in the slightest. They shrieked with glee, and took it very seriously when Gabby broke the fourth wall to ask her friends in the audience to hold hands to help her. This film really is a sunny delight as the weather turns cold.
