Lilo and Stitch (2025)

When Lilo and Stitch first came out back in 2002, I was an 8 year old boy who obviously loved everything about the film. Then as I grew older, I started to notice how weird the movie actually was.

The first 15 minutes or so basically act as an odd little Star Trek parody of some sort, and then the film abruptly turns into a family friendly adventure set in Hawaii. But the Star Trek vibe never really leaves… so the sci-fi elements are forced to fit in with the Hawaiian elements of movie, and I'm not too sure if the two aspects really meshed well together.

So when Disney released Moana back in 2016, I was happy to see that that movie felt like a complete celebration of Polynesian culture. The characters, the story, the folklore, and plenty of other elements were all centered around Polynesian history.

Which isn't to say that Lilo and Stitch didn't embrace it's Hawaiian setting; I just think Moana happened to do a better job of representing Polynesian culture.

But as the years went on, I managed to circle back around with my appreciation for Lilo and Stitch. Because, even though it didn't portray Polynesian culture as well as Moana did, it still managed to be an original little movie with a charming personality of its own. After all, while I may have my issues with the tonal shifts, I can't deny that I've never seen anything that is quite like Lilo and Stitch.

It's a uniquely distinctive film that features a really nice story about fitting in and finding one's family. It's cute! It's touching! It's different! And when you combine those elements together, you get a movie that is actually pretty easy to enjoy.

So easy to enjoy, in fact, that I was actually looking forward to seeing the live-action adaption. Because, while I may not be a fan of most of the live-action Disney remakes, I am a pretty big fan of director Dean Fleischer Camp. He previously helmed the 2022 feature, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, and since that was one of my favorite movies of 2022, I was definitely looking forward to seeing what Camp could bring to this adaptation.

So how did I feel about the live action remake? Unfortunately, I actually really hated it.

Yes, much like most of the other Disney adaptations, Lilo and Stitch felt rather heartless, soulless, and completely unnecessary to me.

All of the personality that was present in the original movie has been sucked away, making for another bland and generic adaptation that feels like it came straight off of Disney's algorithmic conveyer belt.

And even if I stop comparing it to it's animated counterpart, my biggest issues with the film itself were how the pacing felt jarringly fast, and how the CGI wasn't all that great.

It honestly felt like the movie was rushing to zip past all of its own plot beats - for some reason - which was totally weird.
But I wonder if the film wanted to give me whiplash, because it actively wanted to move past all of the sequences involving CGI.

I mean, Stitch is obviously front and center - but Stitch's live-action design isn't what I have a problem with. My problem is with Jumba and Pleakly and all of the other aliens. Something about their texture just felt... off to me. But that didn't even matter since the movie definitely felt like it was trying to hide those characters as much as possible.

Now, I'm not blaming the designs or the animation quality on either the animators or director Dean Fleischer Camp. After all, this is the same guy who provided us with excellent animation in Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. So I'm sure he did the best he could with what he given. After all, Lilo and Stitch did have a modest budget compared to all of the other live-action remakes.

So the problem may lie with the fact that Disney chose to not give Camp and his team a bigger budget in the first place, as I think the film actually would've been better if it had a longer runtime with some spruced up visual effects.

That being said, I do admire Dean Fleischer Camp's attempt at updating this story a bit; I just feel like Disney must've ripped his original vision for this film right out of his hands.

Which may explain why we don't get to see Pleakly in drag. I mean, I guess I can understand why the movie didn't include Gaantu, but not including Pleakly in drag definitely feels like a corporate mandate of some kind.

But speaking of updating the story, I will admit that I do like some of the changes that were made in this adaptation.

For example, I actually how Nani has more  to do in this version of the film. Because, aside from being Lilo's older sister, this movie helped me understand who Nani is as a character. I finally know what her dreams and aspirations are, separate from her relationship to Lilo. So I like that the film gave her her own sense of agency.

And I thought Sydney Agudong did a fine job of portraying the character. I mean, I unfortunately didn't love most of the cast here, as most of the performances came across as being a little too one-dimensional for my personal taste, but Agudong was totally fine. And Maia Kealoha was absolutely adorable as this version of Lilo.

But of course, I'd be remiss if didn't mention the fluffy blue menace himself, so I must admit that Chris Sanders is also great in his return as Stitch. Watching the little fur-ball terrorizing his community in brand new ways, was probably the highlight of the entire film for me.

So the movie did a good job of depicting its two titular characters in live-action, and for some people, that'll be enough.

But for me, Lilo and Stitch works as an updated version of the Ugly Duckling. Both Lilo and Stitch feel like misfits or social outcasts, but when they find each other, they're able to see the good and the potential in one another.

Unfortunately, the Ugly Duckling reference isn't even in this movie! And I think that acts as the perfect metaphor for how I feel about this movie as a whole.

Regardless of how they did it, Disney was always going to remake this movie. Because they don't care about the message or the story, they care about the all of the money that they can make from the Lilo and Stitch IP. After all, this is a franchise that makes a lot of money from it's merchandise.

But therein lies the problem. This story is supposed to be about Ohana. And Ohana means that nobody gets left behind or forgotten. So, it's a shame that, with a message that feels so nice, and beautiful, and poignant, it feels like the heart, soul, and spirit of the original film, did get left behind here.

And I don't blame that on Dean Fleischer Camp, or his creative team, or anyone involved with the cast. I blame that on Disney and their never-ending quest to rip the life out of their animated classics.

So, for as much as I did want to enjoy this movie, Lilo and Stitch would, unfortunately, not get a recommendation from me.