Disney has released several live action remake films in the past few years, including Dumbo (2019), The Lion King (2019), The Little Mermaid (2023), Peter Pan & Wendy (2023) and so many more.
People have thoroughly enjoyed some of these remakes like Cinderella (2015). Viewers appreciate how they fleshed out the original plot which made the story interesting to mature audiences.
A few of these remakes bombed, including Mulan (2019), which took itself entirely too seriously, however, the movie was visually stunning.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like a Disney live-action remake has missed the mark so drastically, like Lilo & Stitch (2025).
The Good
It was clear as soon as Stitch first appeared in the film that most of the budget went towards Stitch’s CGI; it was just seamless. The CGI artists did an amazing job with Stitch’s motion and movements throughout the film. You can even see Stitch’s fur move in the wind. It’s as if the artist pulled Stitch straight out of the original movie.
When Stitch is the focal point of a scene while he’e causing mayhem and being mischievous he completely steals the show.
The other highlight of the movie was the little actress who played Lilo, Maia Kealoha. She had the best performance of the entire cast. Maia Kealoha depicted Lilo effortlessly.
Her presence brought so much life and humor to the movie.
The Bad
Pleakley looks awful.
Pleakley and Jumba’s CGI is very jarring. It’s awful, all throughout the film. They look uncanny.
But funnily enough, in Lilo & Stitch (2025) Jumba and Pleakleys use some sort of technology to become human. So there’s a significant portion of this movie where they’re characters are literally human.
Sabrina Pavlik thoroughly enjoyed Lilo & Stitch (2025) despite a few setbacks, she said, “I think the storyline was pretty similar [but] I didn’t really like that the aliens had to turn into humans to be on the earth. That didn’t happen in the original movie, so it made it kind of, like, okay, what’s going on?”
This decision is such a lazy, cop-out and an easy way for production to limit the use of CGI for Jumba and Pleakley to cut costs.
In the original film, Pleakley and Jumba try to disguise themselves in costume to blend in with humans. Pleakley’s disguise is usually more feminine, he is in full drag, wearing wigs and makeup. Jumba usually dresses more stereotypically masculine. They cut this portion of the story out interestingly enough.
Lilo & Stitch (2025) is absolved of a lot of the magic that made the original film what it is. A lot of the elements of the original story made it unique and it brought humor to the movie.
Jumba ends up being the villain in Lilo & Stitch (2025).
Jumba is the ‘evil scientist’ who made Stitch. When he is tasked with bringing Stitch back to headquarters with Pleakley, he wants to do it under his own terms and his rules.
But ultimately, by the end of the film Jumba becomes a part of Lilo and Stitch’s family. At the end of the movie he stays in Hawaii.
The Ugly
Further along in the film, Lilo’s neighbor takes Lilo to adopt a dog. She is an older woman who cares about Nani and Lilo. Lilo adopted Stitch to Nani’s surprise. In the original film it was Nani’s idea to let Lilo get a dog after she heard Lilo wish for a friend because she’s lonely, and she has a hard time making friends with people her age.
Nani is annoyed when she discovers that Lilo has a ‘dog’. Nani feels like this pet will just be added stress.
In Lilo & Stitch (2025) Nani tells Lilo that she needs to send him back to the kennel the following day. Lilo asks her, “what about Ohana? What about family?” Then Nani tells her that she needs to live in reality.
This differs from the original film, because when Lilo brings up ‘Ohana’, Nani is always sympathetic to this phrase. After Stitch causes havoc at Nani’s job, she rethinks the idea to get a dog, and lets Lilo know, but Lilo reminds her of ‘Ohana’; “Ohana means family, family means no one gets left behind.”
Nani says, “I hate when you use Ohana against me,” and she lets Stitch stay. In the live-action film, Nani’s less understanding and a bit callous about Lilo’s feelings.
In Lilo & Stitch (2025) Nani has dreams of studying marine biology and she has been accepted into college, but she chooses not to attend. Nani is headstrong about the fact that she has to stay in Hawaii to take care of Lilo as her sister and guardian.
The social worker soon tells Nani, after an accident caused by Stitch, that Nani needs to give up Lilo to pay her debts. Nani has a significant amount of unpaid bills. In the original film, the fear of Lilo getting taken away by the social worker was a big fear for Lilo and Nani.
The main point of the original film is that Nani doesn’t want to give up Lilo because “Ohana means family, family means no one gets left behind.” But at the end of the movie Nani gives up custody of Lilo to the state. Nani decides to go to college and Lilo is officially in the foster care system.
Senior Ishita Jahan hasn’t seen the movie for herself but, she’s seen everyone on TikTok discussing the ending of Lilo & Stitch (2025), she said, “Well I was shocked when I learned that Nani leaves Lilo, it actually makes no sense. Also isn’t this a children’s movie? That’s so sad.”
Lilo is taken in by her neighbor but Lilo & Stitch (2025) happens to completely abandon the central theme of the original story. Indigenous children are disproportionately taken away from their families in the United States. This is an issue that the creators of the original movie made strides in addressing.
One of the antagonists of the original story is Mr. Bubbles because throughout the movie he threatens to have Lilo taken away from her sister. Nani does not want to give up Lilo. She loves Lilo and she wants to be able to be her guardian.
At the end of the original movie Stitch says that Lilo and Nani are his family, even though it may be small and broken it’s still good. Also in the original ending Lilo doesn’t get taken away, she gets to stay home with her sister and Stitch.
The ending of Lilo & Stitch (2025) isn’t a happy one. It’s only concerning.
