'Lilo & Stitch': Tia Carrere praises movie for not having a 'little blonde, dainty' Disney princess

Yahoo

23-05-2025

At this point we can all admit that live action remakes of beloved Disney films have been more misses than hits, but the new Lilo & Stitch (now in theatres) is the best of the bunch. Starring Maia Kealoha as Lilo, alongside Sydney Agudong, Tia Carrere, Courtney B. Vance, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, and Chris Sanders back to voice Stitch, it's a worthy remake of the original 2002 movie.
As Carrere and Vance told Yahoo Canada in Toronto, much of the success can be attributed to director Dean Fleischer Camp (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On), who approached the new Lilo & Stitch with "respect" for the original. Notably, he also really listened to everyone involved with making this film.
"I could tell from the beginning they wanted to stick to what was at the core of the original film," Carrere said. "He was very mindful to respect what was canon, but also to put his fingerprints on the characters."
"Like my character, Mrs. Kekoa. His mom is a social worker and he was looking at the wardrobe and looking at how she would say things, and consulting with his mom, and I love that. ... It's hard, because everybody's looking at you like, 'Are you going to do this? Are you going to mess this up?' And ... he was so on top of these specifics."
For Vance, who plays Cobra Bubbles, there's a lot more empathy and complexity to the character, compared to what we saw in the 2002 animated version, and the actor highlighted that was a response to Vance being able to bring himself into the character.
"I've played those kinds of authoritarian characters, and to know the love in the room changes the temperature in all of us," he said.
"There's a scene where I'm listening to them sing the song on the hammock and I'm supposed to be there just observing, and making sure that no one gets out of line. And I'm just sitting there listening, and it's like, 'What's going on here? What are those feelings? ... That's not what I do. I don't do feelings. I don't do help well.'"
Vance also echoed his co-star's comments about how effective Camp was as a collaborative leader on this project.
"He's bringing all of himself, ... that's for me the mark of a good director, is one that says, 'This is my idea, make it better,'" Vance said. "That collaborative nature that he has made everyone feel they can bring their A game."
An interesting shift in the new Lilo & Stitch is that Carrere went from voicing Lilo's sister Nani in the original film (played by Sydney Agudong in the 2025 version), to playing social worker Mrs. Kekoa who's trying to ensure that Nani can retain guardianship of her sister.
Reflecting back on the character Nani, Carrere always appreciated that the film moved away from the typical Disney princesses we saw on screen.
"I thought it was pretty maverick back in the day that she was the thick, brown Disney princess, she wasn't this skinny, mini little blonde, dainty thing that you had to worry that she was going to get hurt," Carrere stressed. "Nani is an athlete. She kicks butt, she surfs, and then to see this embodied in real life in Sydney, who's just a tremendous force. I couldn't be more proud that I was part of this legacy."
But so much of the heart of the new Lilo & Stitch sits with Maia Kealoha as Lilo, with a sweet, bubbly and energetic personalty, seemingly both on-screen and off.
Vance highlighted that working with an actor who is now just seven years old is about collaborating with her family, and it reminded him of working with a young Elijah Wood in the 1993 film The Adventures of Huck Finn.
"I did [The Adventures of Huck Finn] with Elijah Wood back in the day and it was an exact same situation, Mom was there and Mom was like, 'OK son, it's time to go home now,'" Vance said. "It starts with her family and if the family is the right type of family for her in this environment, then all of us go, we can relax, because we know that she knows we're not going to take advantage. Mom and Dad know we're not going to take advantage."
"Maia's just magic," Carrere added. "When I first heard about doing this film, as a local person, I'm like, where are they going to find this kid? Because Lilo is such a specific personality."
"She is Lilo. There's nobody better than her. She doesn't act like she's precocious, she just is a quirky kid, and she's fascinating, endlessly fascinating to all of us."