Lilo & Stitch (2025)

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A long time ago, a friend of mine introduced me to the original 'Lilo & Stitch,' which ended up being a movie I skipped, as at the time, I was pretty ignorant about the potential it would have to work its way into being among a personal favourite of the Disney animated library. I largely ignored it because we started getting instantly forgettable titles like 'Dinosaur' and 'Atlantis: The Lost Empire.' But then again, you had titles like 'The Emperor's New Groove,' which I also love. In other words, things were very hit-or-miss.

Upon watching the original film, however, I found myself charmed by it, and considering it surprisingly edgy with its sense of humour, i.e. Lilo practicing voodoo with dolls she made, telling someone "they need to be punished," or even some of the lighter parts of it, like when Stitch says "Meega, nala kweesta," and its meant to be taken as something we can't understand. Still, you know it's something terrible, as some characters even throw up after it's said. Upon a bit of digging, it supposedly means, "I want to destroy," but that's no fun. Let it be a dirty word - that's so much funnier.

Back to the movie at hand, however, this was one of the live-action Disney remakes that came along, and I was willing to give it a proper chance. The reason was not so much that I already liked the animated movie and thought a live-action film would be a good idea, but more because 'Lilo & Stitch' was among the more fun-loving, good-time animated films in the Disney library. I'd place it alongside something like 'Emperor's New Groove,' where the comedy takes a front seat, and there's not a whole hell of a lot of seriousness to behold.

Plot-wise, it is a copy-and-paste concept from the original film, with various additions and changes. Stitch, first known as "626" (voiced by Chris Sanders, who also portrayed the original Stitch), is the result of an experiment created by mad scientist Dr. Jumba Jookiba (Zach Galifianakis) in the hopes of causing destruction and mayhem throughout the galaxy. After a trial, Jumba is sentenced to prison, and 626 is exiled. However, 626 manages to escape the planet by stealing a police vehicle, utilizing its hyperdrive, and eventually crash-landing on Earth, where he is found and brought to an animal shelter.

Meanwhile, in Hawaii, two sisters, the young Lilo (Maia Kealoha) and the forced Mother figure, Nani (Sydney Agudong), have lost their parents and are doing their best to carry on. While Lilo gets bullied at Hula school and longs for a friend, Nani deals with grown-up issues, like keeping a steady job and struggling to pass social worker inspections performed by Mrs. Kekoa (Tia Carrere, who voiced the original Nani) who is overseen by Cobra Bubbles (Courtney B. Vance), which is one of those weird changes that makes things not quite as fun, being that Cobra Bubbles was just a very intimidating social worker in the original.

Anyway, to wrap things up, Lilo is taken to the aforementioned animal shelter where she meets the likes of 626, names him "Stitch," and the pair get into all sorts of mischief. But little does Lilo know that Stitch is being hunted by his creator and Earth expert, Agent Pleakley (Billy Magnussen), who is sent to recapture Stitch and bring him back to the Grand Councilwoman (Hannah Waddingham). Somewhat villainous at first, Stitch soon learns the meaning of 'ohana - "Family" and that there's more to life than destruction and mayhem.

To no one's surprise, I prefer the original animated film. Like many other Disney live-action adaptations, people will argue about the changes made here and there or the inclusion of extra scenes that add more depth to the film. But from my perspective, it's simply a way for Disney to retell a story they already have in their library, introducing it to a new generation, because for some reason, they feel like they need to "George Lucas" everything by making it "better." This was fun, as I suspected it would be, but as it is with pretty much all of these, the original is still a classic that can't be made "better" just by giving it a live-action twist.

3/5

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