Gloria Estefan embarks on a new adventure on the big screen with ‘Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie’, a children’s film that also carries a message for adults: “We cannot lose our inner child,” the Cuban artist told EFE.
The Latin pop legend who paved the way for Hispanic female singers in the U.S. is now going after a new generation with the movie based on the popular Netflix children’s series ‘Gabby’s Dollhouse’.
The film, which combines live action and animation, tells the story of Gabby, played by Laila Lockhart Kraner, and her grandmother Gigi, played by Estefan, who will have to save the dollhouse and the characters inside it from the hands of Vera, a lonely, cat-loving woman, played by Kristen Wiig.
Grandma Gigi plays a pivotal role in the cinematic gamble as she pushes her granddaughter to dive into the fantasy world to save her most precious treasure.
In an interview with EFE in Los Angeles, the Cuban-American artist says that the greatest lesson this role has taught her is that, no matter how old you are, “you can’t lose” the child inside you.
“Children are always open-minded, hopeful, very creative… Magic for them is something that is palpable and real. There’s no reason to lose that,” abounds the former singer of the Miami Sound Machine group and their hit ‘Conga’.
Gloria Estefan and her adult life
Estefan believes that adult life “is much more enriched” when you continue to play, an idea shared by Lockhart Kraner, who became famous thanks to the eleven seasons of ‘Gabby’s Dollhouse’.
The young actress with Dominican roots has learned that “embracing that power of play and that magic,” even as you get older, helps people find the joy within themselves.
In the process, Lockhart Kraner underscores the wisdom of the script’s inclusion of Estefan as the main character’s grandmother.
“It was amazing,” says the 17-year-old actress. “I felt like we were really connected to our shared culture and the love of the grandmothers, especially the Latina grandmothers…with that warmth, the joy they bring, it’s so special,” she adds.
In that sense, Estefan says she has brought to the film her experience and “energy” as the grandmother of a 13-year-old teenager, with whom she still shares play days.
But she has also brought the experiences of being raised by her maternal grandmother, while her mother worked. “My grandmother was a great inspiration for me, that’s why I brought a great part of who she was to this character,” says the artist.
His goal in the film was to highlight the “veneration” that Latino culture and families have for the elderly.
“It’s important to celebrate the extended family and this film is going to emphasize that special union,” adds the Cuban-born actress.
Estefan, who was recognized this week with a street in her honor in the city of Miami Beach (Florida) says that her participation in this family film marked a way to bring something “empowering, encouraging and optimistic”.
Both Estefan and Lockhart Kraner expect the film to follow the success of ‘Gabby’s Dollhouse,’ a DreamWorks Animation series, which premiered on Netflix in 2021, and has amassed 108 million views across all of its seasons during the first half of 2025.
The series is inspired by popular YouTube videos with children or cats opening toy boxes.
Beyond surpassing the success of the series, director Ryan Crego believes the film’s greatest achievement will be to create an experience where children and adults will once again have fun in a movie theater.
“In essence, I want to make a family film, and not just think about the children or the adults, but about the relationships we have,” the director told EFE.
His goal, reported Agencia EFE, is that when they leave the movie, everyone will think “it was a lot of fun” and be glad they went as a family.
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