A huge series on Netflix Gabby’s Dollhouse now gets its big screen incarnation with Laila Lockharet Kraner playing Gabby here also. As might be deduced from the title the film centres on a dollhouse that’s owned by Gabby and for those not prone to watching kiddies TV series the dollhouse was made by her grandmother Gig (Gloria Estefan) and the cute miniature cats inside the house come to life with Gabby able to miniaturize herself to join her moggy mates there. ‘It’s time to get tiny!’ she tells us in much the same way our Editor’s wife tells him after every Christmas.
Gabby and Grandma set off on a road trip to Cat Francisco, a city shoe horned into a cat pun, seemingly because its version of the Golden Gate Bridge had two giant pink cat heads atop the struts. But when they arrive the dollhouse and its catty inhabitants accidently career down the city’s steep roads and into the claws of wealthy yet mad cat lady Vera (Kristen Wiig) the CEO of Pretty Glitter Kitty Litter ( there’s another rhyme there which would fit but is never going appear in a kids film). So it’s down to Gabby to locate her dollhouse and catty friends and bring them home.
Much like Toy Story 2 the message here is that your toys want to be loved and are there to be played with and not become collectables. It’s all innocuous and likeable enough and the audience that its aimed at will love this with Gabby fourth wall breaks that encourage a sing a long or in one instance instructing us to hold hands with whoever is sat next to us ( and depending on who you’re sitting next to likely to lead to you ending up on a police register). Wiig, as always is a lot of fun and totally commits to the role and the neon coloured animation and the sugar sweet goings on ensure that this is very much for very young kids.
related feature : ‘Savages’ director Claude Barras talks stop motion animation,
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Here’s the Gabby’s Dollhouse trailer……
