Nani Pelekai struggles to raise and care for her little sister Lilo following the deaths of their parents. Lilo frequently acts out due to being treated differently, often with disastrous results. When she finds what she believes is a dog and chooses to care for it as her pet, things quickly escalate. “Stitch,” as she’s named her new pet, is actually a genetic alien experiment. And agents have been sent to capture and exterminate the creature by any means necessary. Will their intervention prevent the Pelekai family from ever being truly complete?
It’s been years since I saw the original LILO & STITCH. So long ago, in fact, that I watched it on Netflix, before Disney+ was even a thing! I do remember being won over by the original film’s zany, madcap brand of humor, its Hawaiian setting, the message of the importance of family, and of course, the antics of the titular alien. Disney has been cranking out live action remakes of their animated favorites for many years now, and I was quite surprised to see that choose LILO & STITCH for this treatment, given that the original animated film is barely two decades old. This new take on the story isn’t half bad, even if it’s a bit imbalanced at times and doesn’t really bring anything new to the table.
Disney tends to stick with what works in a lot of their live action remakes, and for LILO & STITCH, that’s largely the same. The messages of family and togetherness and the Hawaiian setting are certainly intact. The basic premise is largely the same as before. And fortunately, the film is well cast. Newcomer Maia Kealoha is absolutely adorable as the live action Lilo, who quickly becomes relatable and capable of charming any audience. One major change is the introduction of a social worker character played by Tia Carrere (Carrere had previously voiced Nani in the 2002 animated film). An array of supporting parts are well played by personalities including Courtney B. Vance as undercover agent Cobra Bubbles, and Billy Magnussen and Zach Galifianakis as a bumbling pair come to Earth to apprehend Stitch (please give these two guys their own movie!) Chris Sanders, who directed the 2002 film, reprises his voice role of Stitch.
Fortunately, Disney doesn’t spare anything in terms of production values. The Hawaiian settings and atmosphere are certainly convincing, and the CG aliens are quite elaborate. For what flaws it has, it’s clear that the House of Mouse went all out on this production, reinventing and reimaging LILO & STITCH for a new generation of viewers.
That said, this critic must question if this remake was necessary. Some characters in the movie are left with basically nothing to do. You could leave the character of David on the cutting room floor, and basically end up with the same movie. An older woman from his family, played by Amy Hill, gets some great scenes but is criminally underused. Likewise, while bringing Tia Carrere back in some capacity is appreciated, her social worker character’s presence mean that Cobra Bubbles also gets next to nothing to do. Similarly, at times, the madcap zaniness and toilet humor threaten to overtake the message of togetherness and family. The film also feels considerably more restrained than its G-rated predecessor (ironic given that this has a slightly more restrictive PG rating), with the beautiful blonde lifeguard from the original film MIA, and none of the main female characters apparently being allowed to wear bikinis anymore. Put simply, this new take on LILO & STITCH works, but it makes this critic wonder if we needed to remake it so soon.
LILO & STITCH isn’t a bad film by any means, but it can’t outdo the animated original. It’s a good movie; the final product is certainly better than a lot of the lesser live-actions remakes Disney has been cranking out. This is one of those cases where I’m right on the fence; it’s a good movie, but you may as well wait for the Disney+ release (and if you have Disney+, you have access to the superior original movie). Moderately recommended.