Lilo & Stitch is the latest film from Disney’s library and the results are mixed. Photo: Disney.
As part of our bi-annual tradition with Region‘s movie reviews, it is once again time to have a quick chat about the newest live-action Disney remake.
This time, the House of Mouse has decided to take on, or in this case lazily put together, an adaptation of the perfect 2002 animated family flick, Lilo & Stitch.
Before we proceed, please be aware that I may be a tad harsh with this review. When the original came out, I was but a young lad and the story of an alien arriving on earth, listening to Elvis and forming a family was peak entertainment.
Now, 23 years later, I look at the remake not with nostalgia or fondness, but with confusion on how the hell Disney ****ed this up!
Before the rant continues, it is important to note the positives of this film. And per my duty as a stand-up film critic, I shall do so.
First things first … the actresses for Lilo and her older sister Nani are fantastic. Maia Kealoha, as the title character, is a joy. It is quite difficult to believe it is her first movie role. She provides the best laughs of the film and crushes it as a depressed-yet-optimistic 6-year-old.
Sydney Agudong as Nani is also great, and her struggles as sister-guardian are the heart of this film.
Aside from the chemistry the two actors and characters share, this movie is a hot mess.
From the get-go, something was off. It moved at 100 miles an hour with no intention of stopping. It tried to tick the boxes and retread the original film, but gave absolutely zero time for any characters or the decisions they make to breathe.
Stitch is by far the worst offender when it comes to this. In the original, when Stitch does something wrong or hurts somebody, the film gives him a few seconds to demonstrate that he actually feels bad or is at odds with himself.
In this, he is borderline psychotic! I recall only one real scene where he actually reflected, and even then, he just flipped the switch and became good. That misses the entire point of the film!
Character adaptations are off, too. Unlike the original, Pleakly and Jumba aren’t disguised in costumes, but instead turn themselves into humans. This is fine, the movie needed to save money somewhere, and it’s easier to believe as a viewer, so I get it.
The issue with this is that we are stuck with Zach Galifianakis in a completely miscast role. Instead of getting an interesting alien to look at, we are stuck with a grumbling, bumbling soft spoken moron who is so far separated from the crazy, gravley yet oddly loving creator of Stitch from the original. It genuinely gave me a headache whenever he showed up.
Several characters are added or removed, with some having their roles completely changed from the original and of them aren’t better than the original.
Slight spoilers ahead!
Cobra Bubbles isn’t a social worker; instead, some generic woman is. Captain Nantu isn’t the villain. David isn’t in it for more than five minutes, and just like all movies about social workers, there is an annoying neighbour who ‘just wants to help.’
The scenes explaining these changes mean that the stuff we should be spending time on gets overlooked, and the emotion of each of the main players is lost.
It begs the question, if the changes aren’t helping the film, why change them at all?
The film is longer than the original, yet somehow feels more rushed. There are two or three plot points that could be dropped to fix this problem, and watching in person, you can pick which ones they should be.
This is a children’s film, and they will probably love it, but what separates an OK kids’ film from the great ones are the themes and what they can learn or take away from them.
Unlike the original, there isn’t much to take away here. It felt like another cash grab, bringing families in with a cute-looking character built on nostalgia.
While nowhere near as bad as the year’s first live-action remake, Snow White, this one does feel just as disappointing. And as always with these live-action remakes, it leaves me with the recommendation of just rewatching the original instead.
Lilo & Stitch (2025) is currently showing in cinemas across the country. A DVD of Lilo & Stitch (2002) is in the drawer under your TV and every op-shop for $2.
