Back in 2021, Gabby’s Dollhouse debuted as a streaming series that mixed live-action and animation. Four years later, Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie brought the property to the big screen.

Teenager Gabby (Laila Lockhart Kraner) possesses magical cat ears that allow her to shrink down to tiny size and go on adventures within the dollhouse created by her Grandma Gigi (Gloria Estefan). On a road trip with her granny, the dollhouse accidentally rolls away from her.

It ends up in a store where obsessive cat lady Vera (Kristen Wiig) buys it. Gabby needs to work to retrieve this fantastic construction.

As a childless man in my 50s, I find myself well outside the demographic for which they made Dollhouse. Granted, I’ve reviewed bunches of movies created for audiences to which I don’t belong, so this doesn’t seem inherently remarkable.

Except Dollhouse takes this disconnect to an extreme. The TV series aimed for a pre-school audience primarily as well as a fairly obvious lean toward female viewers.

A cat-obsessed friend pushing 50 actually tried to get me to see Dollhouse theatrically but I just couldn’t do it. Too many fears of “stranger danger” accusations danced in my head to visit the flick in public.

Free from those concerns in my own home, I decided to give Dollhouse a look, though I so without real expectations it’d work for me. Indeed, only one factor pushed it onto my watch list: the presence of Wiig.

At least based on the trailers, Wiig looked likely to chow down scenery in a delightful comedic manner. If nothing else, I hoped her performance would make the film entertaining.

And it does, though Wiig spends less time on screen than those promos implied. Vera exists as an important plot device but most of the movie functions without her as an active presence.

Which seems like a shame, as Wiig camps up a hilarious storm. Clearly she exists as sop to older viewers like myself and that choice works, as she creates the vast majority of the film’s amusing moments.

Because I never watched a minute of the TV show, I can’t say this with certainty, but I strongly suspect the cinematic Dollhouse includes other nods toward the adults in the crowd that the series didn’t. I suspect it stayed pretty firmly with material for the pre-school crowd and didn’t branch into the theoretically more mature jokes of the movie.

Most of these come from Wiig, as she tosses out bunches of gags that kids won't get. Wiig doesn’t exist in a vacuum, though, as the rest of the flick provides comedic beats that also seem to shoot for viewers well past puberty.

None of these fare as well as Wiig’s bits, but at least they ensure the non-Wiig scenes manage some entertainment. While we never find inspired wit anywhere but from Wiig, at least the flick shows some mild spark.

Don’t expect much of a plot, as the story of Dollhouse essentially just rips off the Toy Story series. Many of the problems Gabby encounters come from the fact Vera views toys as collectibles and not playthings.

This leads to a flashback highly reminiscent of Jessie’s plight in Toy Story 2 as well as “abandoned toy revenge” straight out of Toy Story 3. The themes worked much better in those films.

And they made more sense because those involved with the Toy Story flicks knew plenty of adults would see the movies and their messages could become meaningful to them. Given that Dollhouse seemed far less likely to reach grown-ups, the “you’re never too old to play” concept makes less sense.

Granted, the fact this project played on movie screens made it much more likely adults would see it. At home, parents would probably let their offspring watch the series on their own, but chaperone duties ensured a decent adult audience for the big screen affair.

Still, a film oriented primarily toward a very young audience with a theme about maturation seems like an odd choice. Maybe the filmmakers felt enough grownups would see the movie for this to work, but it feels gratuitous even without the obvious Toy Story ripoff factor.

Even with these issues, I can certainly say I’ve seen many less enjoyable kiddie flicks. Thanks primarily to a delightful turn from Kristen Wiig, this becomes a spotty but generally likeable movie.

Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a largely positive presentation.

For the most part, sharpness worked fine. A little softness crept in at times but the flick usually looked well-defined.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects emerged, and I detected no edge haloes. Source flaws failed to interfere.

As one would expect of a bubbly flick like this, the movie’s palette opted for a series of bright and vivid hues. The Blu-ray reproduced these with fine clarity and impact.

Blacks appeared dark and tight, while low-light shots exhibited appealing clarity. Outside of a little unexpected softness, the image satisfied.

Though perfectly adequate, the movie’s Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack seemed less dynamic than I expected. Given the film’s mix of action and fantasy, I anticipated a pretty sizzling soundfield.

Instead, the mix mostly emphasized music. Score and songs filled all the channels in an active manner.

Effects offered a less engaging factor, though those elements came with moderate involvement. Still, the soundscape lacked a lot to make it impress.

Audio quality seemed solid at least. Music sounded bright and full.

Dialogue came across as concise, while effects appeared accurate and tight. All of this felt good enough for a “B” but I figured we’d get a more involving sonic experience.

As we head to extras, we begin with an audio commentary from director/story writer Ryan Crego, producer Steven Schweikart, visual effects supervisor M. Scott McKee, head of story David Colman and head of character animation CJ Sarachane. All five sit together for a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, visual design, music, animation and various effects.

On one hand, I felt pleased that a movie aimed at very young kids came with an actual filmmaker commentary. Given its minimal adult audience, I didn’t expect a chat of this sort alongside Dollhouse.

On the other hand, the end result proves spotty, mainly because an awful lot of the discussion devolves into basic praise for the film and those involved. While we do learn some good details about the production, these elements tend to get buried under the happy talk, a trend that gets worse as the movie progresses.

One Deleted Scene appears. “Vera Meets Cakey Cat” runs one minute, 30 seconds and offers a minor extension to an existing sequence. This means it doesn’t give us much.

That total includes a largely meaningless 20-second intro from Crego before we see a little more of Vera in tiny form. It exists as an extended version of an existing scene and doesn’t add much.

Some featurettes ensue and Making the Meowvie goes for six minutes, 10 seconds. It brings notes from Crego, Sarachane, Schweikart, production designer/character designer Marcelo Vignani, and actors Laila Lockhart Kraner, Gloria Estefan and Kristen Wiig.

The program examines inspirations, design choices, casting and animation. Despite the reel’s brevity, it becomes a decent little summary.

Pawsome Performances spans three minutes, 56 seconds and shows the actors in the recording studio. It comes with some fun but doesn’t really reveal the processes involved.

Next comes Meet the Clowder, a collection of four segments that occupy a total of 15 minutes, 53 seconds. Across these, we hear from Kraner, Schweikart, Wiig, Crego, Vignani, Sarachene, Estefan, and actors Logan Bailey, Juliet Donenfeld, Sainty Nelsen, Tara Strong, Secunda Wood, Jason Mantzoukas, Fortune Feimster, Thomas Lennon, Ego Nwodim and Kyle Mooney.

The clips cover cast, characters and performances. It mainly provides fluff.

Two tutorials follow, as we get Kitty Cat Surprise Snack Box (7:18) and Cakey’s Pretzel Cabin (5:56). Both craft activities could become fun for kids.

Aimed at very young audiences, Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie manages to deliver acceptable entertainment for adults as well. This happens mainly due to a hilariously over the top performance from Kristen Wiig, as she salvages the tale for grownups. The Blu-ray comes with strong visuals, good albeit surprisingly restrained audio and a mix of supplements. While I can’t claim I’ll ever want to watch Dollhouse again, the end product worked fine given its target demographic.