The Movie Star Tells Fans to Dance, Bring Cat Ears

The Gabby’s Dollhouse movie isn’t available — yet (as Gabby would say, with emphasis). But now just days away from releasing in movie theaters across the country, Gabby herself wants to tell fans of all ages what to expect when Netflix‘s popular preschool series goes big screen.

“It’s a lot of fun. The little kids are going to stay entertained,” star Laila Lockhart Kraner tells The Hollywood Reporter of DreamWorks Animation‘s first live-action/animated hybrid film, written and directed by Ryan Crego. “They’re going to be able to sing and dance. But I also think there’s going to be a lot for everybody. Even older members of the family, the parents, too.”

Kraner, who is now 17, was 12 when she was first cast as Gabby, the live-action girl who uses magic in her cat ears to “pinch in” and shrink herself, along with her favorite stuffed animal, to go inside an animated version of her vibrant dollhouse. Gabby, best pal Pandy and her ensemble of cat-inspired friends — Cakey, MerCat, Carlita, Catrat, Baby Box, Kitty Fairy, Pillow Cat and DJ Catnip — have taken young viewers on 76 episodes and 11 seasons of cat-adventures with the hit Netflix series, all culminating now in Universal Pictures’ Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie. (Season 12 will bring six new episodes in November.)

The 98-minute movie follows Kraner’s growing-up Gabby on a road trip with her Grandma Gigi (played by the iconic Gloria Estefan) to “Cat Francisco,” where her dollhouse inadvertently finds its way into the hands of an eccentric cat lady named Vera, who is played by the also iconic Kristen Wiig. Gabby and her Gabby Cats then set off on a real-world/animated adventure to save her dollhouse.

“There’s a lot of funny comedy for everybody, and there are a lot of good messages that I think apply to all ages about keeping the magic of play alive,” says Kraner of the movie’s takeaways. “I think that’s something important for little kids to hear, and also for adults to hear. So it’s a lot of fun for the whole family.”

Kraner says she was on set making an episode of Gabby’s Dollhouse a couple of years ago when creators Traci Paige Johnson and Jennifer Twomey first floated the idea of making a Gabby movie to her. “But even then I wasn’t sure how big it was going to be, if it was going to go into theaters or not. They just had a couple of concepts,” she recalls. Then, enter animation creator, writer and director Crego, who was approached at a time when Gabby’s Dollhouse was playing on loop in his own home.

“This was my daughter’s favorite show. We have every toy. That’d be the coolest thing ever to make her favorite show into a movie. And, my son, who has grown up during the course of making this movie, has also fallen into the Gabby fandom,” Crego tells THR. “There was a period where I would be writing and working on [the movie], and then I’d come downstairs and hear [the show’s theme song] Hey, Gabby!“

Wiig was at the top of their list to play the cat lady villain whose improv brings the biggest laughs (and, according to Crego, also had the crew in stitches). Crego, inspired by his Cuban heritage, said a lightning bolt went off when casting Gabby’s Gigi. “We were really lucky that she jumped on board because it’s hard to imagine anyone else in that role,” he says of Estefan, who helps expand Gabby’s world and also explains its magic. The voice cast also includes Thomas Lennon, Jason Mantzoukas, Ego Nwodim, Kyle Mooney, Melissa Villaseñor and Fortune Feimster.

Crego hopes to create a classic family film that every generation can enjoy together in the theater, but his guiding principle was to maintain the key elements of the series, which often sees Gabby breaking the fourth wall to speak with the audience or encourage dancing and sing-alongs to the catchy soundtrack. (Pre-released songs “Kaleidoscope,” “Gabby Dollhouse World” and “Pinching In” are already available.)

In fact, the Gabby filmgoing experience, like the series, wants active participation from viewers.

“We tried really hard to make sure that the core audience of Gabby fans was going to be served first and foremost,” Crego says. “As much as I talk about how the parents are going to love it and adults are going to get something out of it, before anything, it was about the fans of Gabby and finding all the things that make the series so successful, and then bringing more to the screen for a bigger adventure.”

So Kraner encourages moviegoers of all ages to keep that spirit alive. “Sometimes in movie theaters you’re not really supposed to get up, but this is not that case. It’s totally allowed!” she says.

“A big part of the movie theater experience that is so special about Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie is that you’re encouraged to go and sing and dance,” she continues. “That’s always such a big part of the show that everybody really connects with, so being able to do that in a theater of other little Gabby fans is going to be such a blast. I hope everybody gets dressed up and brings their cat ears. It’s supposed to be a fun and inclusive movie experience. The viewer has always been part of the story with Gabby and that’s even more important in this movie. We want you to laugh and dance with us.”