Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie

Posted on September 25, 2025 at 5:45 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Preschool
MPAA Rating:	Rated G
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Mild peril, mild meanness
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	September 26, 2025

“Gabby’s Dollhouse” is a sweet television series for young children about a girl who can shrink (and turn into an animated character) to play with cat-ish friends in a magical dollhouse. Gabby (Laila Lockhart Kraner). The show, from Traci Paige Johnson and Jennifer Twomey of “Blue’s Clues,” shares that series’ interactive style, with Gabby asking the audience to help her sing and dance. The cupcake aesthetic, silly cat-puns, varied but cute dollhouse characters, and cheerful tone have made it a favorite for preschoolers.

Gabby is an appealing, aspirational heroine. She is enthusiastic and imaginative and she tells us “every moment is a chance to create magic.” She invites us into a gentle world of candy colors, sparkles, balloons, marshmallows, hugs, and magic. But it does not always scale up to a feature film, especially for those young enough to be the show’s biggest fans who might not be interested in the longer, slightly more complex storyline.

It begins with the origin story of the dollhouse. Gabby’s grandmother, Gigi (singer Gloria Estefan) made it for Gabby when she was a little girl. In present day, Gabby is older, but still loves pinching the cat ears on her headband and squeezing the paw of her stuffed toy Pandy to enter the dollhouse. She’s especially excited as the movie begins because Gigi is coming to pick her up for a visit to “Catfrancisco.” Of course that means hauling the dollhouse behind the van; Gabby would never leave her friends behind.

Gigi is so excited to show Gabby her crafting room (which is wonderfully equipped and could inspire a show of its own) and give her something to eat that they leave the dollhouse strapped to the van outside. This is a mistake. One of the dollhouse denizens is so eager to get going he releases the trailer hitch and Catfransisco is just as hilly as San Francisco (it also has a very big bridge) and off the dollhouse goes on a wild ride. It ends up in the hands of the evil (mildly evil — this is a G-rated film) Vera (Kristen Wiig, looking gorgeous and having a blast).

Gabby and Gigi go after the dollhouse. Vera, who has forgotten how to play and sees objects only as collectibles has moved the little characters from the dollhouse to display them, one in an aquarium and one in the garden, plus one in her purse. Rescuing them, with the help and sometimes hindrance of Vera’s abandoned toy (voiced by Jason Mantzoukas), takes up the rest of the film.’

There’s enough tension to keep it interesting, though the theme of an adult re-learning the importance of play may not grab young audiences. More interesting but getting almost no screen time was Gabby’s original hesitation when Gigi encouraged her to create her own project, and then, after the rescue gave her confidence and encouraged her creativity, she was willing to try. At the screening I attended, the children in the audience started to get squirmy when the film ran past the brief run time of the segments of the series, and a few of them were anxious about Vera’s low-wattage villainy. The likely audience for the film might be happier just watching the series.

Parents should know that this film has some mild potty humor and mild peril and stress.

Family discussion: Who is your favorite Gabby Cat and why? Why didn’t Vera want to play anymore? If you got tiny, where would you go?

If you like this, try; The series on Netflix

Transformers One

Posted on September 19, 2024 at 4:36 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for sci-fi violence and animated action throughout, and language
Profanity:	Mild schoolyard language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended action/cartoon-style violence, characters injured and destroyed
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	September 20, 2024

“Transformers One” has just about transformed me into a fan. I know — based on a toy and a Saturday morning cartoon series and lots of movies already so it was hard to imagine that they could surprise me, but they did, with well-designed action scenes, an origin story drawing from classic sources, and A-list actors bringing their A-game as voice talent.

Quick recap: Transformers turn from robot-y creatures into car creatures. The good ones are the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime and they befriend humans. The goofy one is Bumblebee. The bad guys are Decepticons, led by Megatron. The bots we meet here will become these characters.

It takes place long before the Autobots come to earth. They are on their home planet, called Cybertron, where an arrogant ruler cruelly oppresses the worker bots. Cybertron is in dire distress following a brutal war with the Quintessons.

There is a sharp class distinction between the overlords, who have cogs in their chests that give them the power to transform, and the cog-less workers, who spend their days doing drudge work in the mines, looking for Energon, the once-plentiful substance that sustains them.

They are literally kept in the dark, spending their days in the mine and being lied to about who they are, the history of Cybertron, and what is really happening.

Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) are best friends. Their support for one another is what keeps them going. They do not realize that the restrictions that constrain them keep them from noticing how different they are. Orion is more optimistic, willing to take some risks. D-16 does not want to get in trouble. “No bad things happen when you stay on protocol,” he says, as Orion is beginning to understand that protocol itself is the bad thing.

Orion enters himself and D-16 into a race reserved for bots with cogs. This challenging of the hierarchy brings the unwanted attention of the cog bots, who punish Orion and D-16 by reassigning them. That is where they meet a straight-laced supervisor named Elita-1 (Scarlett Johansson) and the goofy, motormouthed B-127 (a very funny Keegan-Michael Key, sneaking in a reference to his “Substitute Teacher” sketch).

The four bots end up on the planet’s surface, where they discover they have been lied to about pretty much everything. They were not created without cogs; their cogs were taken from them. Now be-cogged and able to transform, they discover their new powers as they learn about the lies they have been told by the forces holding their community down.

The closer they get to escaping oppression, the more the two friends find they see everything differently. Orion sees hope and opportunity. D-16 sees threats that can only be removed through power. This almost Shakespearean divide (Othello and Iago, Professor X and Magneto) adds weight and meaning and a deeper sense of transformation to the various actions scenes,.

What makes that work is the superb voice talent. Hemsworth shows us Orion’s shift from generalized naive good will to a more mature understanding of his opportunity as a leader, even as he sees the sacrifices it may require. And Brian Tyree Henry matches him, going from hesitation to hurt to anger. We are genuinely sad to see the end of their friendship even as we recognize its inevitability.

Parents should know that this PG-rated film has extended action sequences, mostly with machines battling each other. Some are injured and broken/killed and an animal is blown up. There is some mild schoolyard language, with “screwed” perhaps the strongest used.

Family discussion: Why do Orion and D-16 see the world differently? How does hope affect Orion’s thinking? How does fear and anger affect D-16’s?

If you like this, try: the original cartoons and the Michael Bay live-action films

The Fall Guy

Posted on May 1, 2024 at 10:00 am

A-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for action and violence, drug content and some strong language
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol, jokes about getting tipsy, drug use, including hallucinations
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended real and fictional peril and action, fights, guns and other weapons, characters injured and killed
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	May 3, 2024

“The Fall Guy” is a love letter to movie-making, to all of the work, all of the heart, all of the expertise from hundreds of people that goes into telling our stories. It is a love letter to the audience, filled with action, romance, comedy, impossibly gorgeous, magnificently talented ,and endlessly charismatic performers, and with joy. Most of all, it is a love letter to the unsung heroes who do the crazy daredevil stunts that make the world’s most beloved movie stars look athletic and courageous. It is pure popcorn pleasure and I cannot wait to see it again.

There’s just a tincture of the 80s television series that lends its name, its theme song, character name, and a brief cameo from its star, Lee Majors). This is the story of stunt man Ryan Gosling as Colt Seavers, who is the long-time substitute for one of the world’s biggest Hollywood action stars, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) when the script calls for anything that might be dangerous. The job of the stunt performers is to do the crazy things that make audiences gasp and cheer: cars rolling over, falls from great heights, fighting with fists, feet, and weapons, dangling from helicopters, racing speedboats. Basically, they get paid a minuscule fraction of what the star is paid to get all of the bruises, burns. and broken bones, do to it over and over, to make sure their faces do not show and ruin the illusion, and to give a thumbs-up to show that they are fine after every take.

Colt has a crush on a cinematographer and would-be director, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). But when Tom insists on a re-do of a fall from the top of a skyscraper atrium because he thinks too much of Colt’s chin was showing, something goes wrong and Colt is badly injured. Over the next 18 months, as he slowly recovers, he works as a parking valet and his relationship with Jody ends in hurt and disappointment.

And then Colt gets a call from Tom’s long-time producer, Gail Meyer (“Ted Lasso’s” Hannah Waddingham). Tom is making a huge sci-fi film in Australia and Gail wants Colt to do the stunts. He says no. She says Jody asked for him. He says, “Get me an aisle seat.”

Once he gets to Sydney, Gail tells Colt that Tom has disappeared and she wants Colt to find him. He also finds out that Jody did not ask for him because (1) she is surprised to see him and not happy about it and (2) she fires him. Literally. Like, she has him do a stunt where he’s on fire and gets slammed into a rock — three times.

There is so much more I’m longing to tell you about what happens next but I want you to have the pleasure of discovering it all for yourselves. I will just say that Gosling and Blunt have chemistry for days and are clearly having a blast perfecting the balance between action, comedy, romance, and mystery, there are dozens of sly jokes about Hollywood and filmmaking, Winston Duke is a dream as the stunt coordinator (if you have not seen him in “Black Panther” and “Nine Days” and “Us,” three roles that could not be more different, watch them!), there’s a stunt dog who only understands French, and while you may expect the stunts to be amazing, they are amazing times amazing. Real-life stunt performer-turned director David Leitch likes to take Hollywood’s handsomest leading men (Brad Pitt in “Bullet Train,” Gosling here) and make them scruffy and in need of a comeback, always a choice choice. Be sure to stay through the credits for behind the scenes footage of the real stunt performers and an extra scene.

Parents should know that this is an action film with extended real and fictional (stunt) peril and violence, with guns and other weapons, fight scenes, characters injured and killed, drinking and jokes about being tipsy, drugs, and some strong language.

Family discussion: What’s your go-to karaoke song and why? Why is it hard to apologize? Would you like to see the movie Colt and Jody are making?

If you like this, try: “The Stunt Man” (some mature material) with Peter O’Toole as the director of a WWI movie who impulsively hires an escaped convict as a stunt performer, and stunt-filled films like “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Fast X” and another movie from this director, also with Taylor-Johnson, “Bullet Train”

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Posted on August 2, 2023 at 5:40 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for sequences of violence and action, language and impolite material
Profanity:	Some crude schoolyard language: crap, puke, piss off, etc.
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended and tense peril and violence, threats of wiping out humanity, scary creatures, weapons, disturbing images, sad deaths, barfing
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	August 4, 2023

Imagine a movie much more artistically ambitious than the toys it is based on. Yes, that would be “Barbie.” But it turns out “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” is a nice surprise, with exceptionally inventive and vibrant animation and a funny script from the prolific Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (“Superbad,” “Pineapple Express,” “”Sausage Party”), Jeff Rowe (“The Mitchells vs. The Machines”) and Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez (“The Addams Family 2,” “Detective Pikachu”), and an all-star cast of voice talent that knocks the films best lines out of the park and into the next town.

We know the drill so well we can recite it along with the movie. Baby turtles and a rat were exposed to radioactive ooze (do not call it slime). The rat was Splinter (voiced here by Jackie Chan), who became an adoptive parent to the and 15 years later the turtles were walking upright, talking, trained in ninja-style combat, and named for four groundbreaking Renaissance artists: Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu) told briskly and energetically, establishing the stakes. In this version a scientist named Baxter Stockman (Giancarlo Esposito) created the ooze because he always felt like an outcast, closer to animals than to humans. Don’t think too hard about why, if this is so, he would want to mutate the animals so they would be closer to humans, just go with it.

Scary henchmen for imperious Cynthia Utrom (Maya Rudolph) arrive and kill Stockman. The ooze and the rat and turtle babies are washed away into the sewer. After one disastrous try, Splinter decides that to keep his adopted sons safe from humans, they would stay out of sight forever. But the teenagers want to explore the world and meet people. They’d even like to go to high school. A crime boss named “Superfly” has been organizing heists around the city. The turtles think they could win the support of the human community if they can stop him.

They have one human friend, a high school student and aspiring reporter named April (Ayo Edebiri of “The Bear”). She has been researching Superfly, and she wants to write about the turtles, so they team up.

The animation style has an engaging looseness, even messiness, to it, a welcome change from the pristine perfection of hyper-lifelike CGI or the thin, under-designed images of the original cartoons. There are plenty of pop culture references (Adele, “Avengers: Endgame,” Cool Ranch Doritos — party size), and some self-aware jokes (Donatello wonders why his only weapon is a stick — and learns to appreciate it, too). The interplay between the four turtles is high-spirited and Chan makes a warm-hearted and concerned adoptive dad. And when we meet up with Superfly and his team, we get a new bunch of characters with wild designs and brilliant voices. Paul Rudd’s mutant Gecko with a fondness for Four Non Blondes is one of the great cinematic treats of the summer. Rogen, his “Platonic” co-star Rose Byrne, and John Cena add their voices. But the standout of the film is Ice Cube as Superfly, who hates humans, but loves bowling.

Parents should know that this movie has extended fantasy-style peril and action with some scary-looking monsters and disturbing images, crude schoolyard language (crap, puke) and references, and a sad death.

Family discussion: What is the best way to show people you deserve appreciation and respect? Which turtle is your favorite and why?

If you like this, try: the other TMNT stories, “The Mitchells vs the Machines,” “The Bad Guys,” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)

Downton Abbey: A New Era

Posted on May 19, 2022 at 5:27 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for some suggestive references, language and thematic elements.
Profanity:	Mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Social drinking
Violence/ Scariness:	Sad death
Diversity Issues:	Class issues
Date Released to Theaters:	May 20, 2022
Date Released to DVD:	July 4, 2022

If the producers of “Downton Abbey” have become so fond of their characters after six seasons on television and a feature film that they can reunite them only for the most enticingly charming of storylines, well, that is fine with me and likely to be fine with the many, many fans who love to watch the residents of the fabulous title estate — both the upstairs Lord and Lady Grantham and their family (the Crowleys) and the downstairs staff who keep the place running. The title is “Downton Abbey: A New Era” but the story remains reassuringly retro.

The Crawley characters have survived the upheavals of world affairs from the beginning; the first episode begins with the family learning of the sinking of the Titanic, with the heir to the estate on board and later World War I brings enormous changes during the course of the series. And they have survived family upheavals as well, the marriage of one of the three Crawley daughters to a commoner, the family’s chauffeur, and her death following childbirth. The staff have had their challenges as well, and the attention to all of the residents of Downton is a critical part of the story’s appeal.

But so is the display of wealth, including the dozens of servants required for the many many changes of fabulous clothes and the dinners with exquisite china and silver. For all of the concerns about whether the Crawley family can afford repairs to the roof, they have generational wealth and privilege that has a fairy tale quality. “Cinderella” is a fairy tale, too, and the concerns, challenges, and relationships of the staff, all safely in the past, allow a measure of safety as we convince ourselves that there is more opportunity and equality today.

This latest update may be called “A New Era” but it is even more of an old-fashioned fairy tale than the last one because of the gentleness of its storylines. It begins with a wedding. The last movie ended with a strong suggestion that the family connections would be shored up further when the chauffeur-turned-son-in-law, Tom Branson (Allen Leech) was falling in love with Lucy Smith (Tuppence Middleton), the illegitimate daughter of an estranged cousin, Maude Bagshaw (Imelda Staunton). This made the Crowleys happy because it would keep the property Lucy was inheriting from Maude connected to the Crawley family. Oh, and it would be nice for single dad Tom to find love, too.

And then the very large cast splits and goes in two different directions Dame Maggie Smith as the acid-tongued doyenne Violet Grantham has unexpectedly inherited a villa in the French Rivera from a man she knew when she was a young newlywed. His widow is considering challenging the will but his son has invited the Crowleys to visit.

Lady Mary, who is running things at Downton now, as accepted a lucrative offer from a film crew that wants to use Downton to make a movie about a high society romance. Well, they had to top the last film’s visit from the king and queen. Downton, as often happens, is caught between two traditions: the traditions of dignity, decorum, status, and remove from the activities of those without a title, and the tradition of keeping the roof from leaking and continuing to care for the family and the servants and as much of the way of life as they can continue to sustain.

Both stories take turns that range from melodramatic to preposterous, the film-within-a-film story landing somewhere between an early 20th century meta-verse and an audacious twist taken from one of the all-time-most beloved movies in history. But after all this time, the audience is not there for the plots. This is a film that has time for a full, rollicking jazz performance. We are there for the elegance and glamor, the costumes, the comfy familiarity. If you are not already a fan, this is not a place to start. But if you’re hoping for happy endings for almost every character — and if you are enough of a fan to know that when a member of the nobility and a servant are mistakenly thought to be a married couple that it is both a wink (the actors are married in real life) and a nod to the themes of changing times (like the jazz number and the movie production) and eroding class distinctions, then you will be as delighted as I was.

Parents should know that this film includes discussions of adultery and paternity and a sad death.

Family discussion: Which character do you enjoy the most and why? Were you surprised by the decisions made by Violet and Lady Mary?

If you like this, try: the “Downton Abbey” series and the other series from Julian Fellowes, including “Doctor Thorne,” “The Gilded Age,” and “Belgravia”