Movie review: 'Lilo & Stitch' adds irreverence, heart in live-action remake
1 of 5 | Maia Kealoha stars in "Lilo & Stitch," in theaters Friday. Photo courtesy of Disney
LOS ANGELES, May 20 (UPI) -- The live-action Lilo & Stitch remake, in theaters Friday, takes more liberties with the 2002 animated film than recent remakes of The Lion King or Beauty and the Beast. The story and themes remain faithful to the original but benefit from some irreverent additions.
Lilo & Stitch begins in an alien galaxy with Grand Councilwoman (voice of Hannah Waddingham) banishing Experiment 626 (voice of Chris Sanders), later known as Stitch. When 626 escapes to Earth, she assigns Pleakley (voice of Billy Magnussen) to assist 626's creator, Jumba (voice of Zach Galifianakis), in retrieving him.
626 lands on a Hawaiian island where lonely 6-year-old Lilo (Maia Kealoha) thinks he's a dog and names him Stitch. Stitch brightens Lilo's life, but causes more trouble for her already harried sister, Nani (Sydney Agudong), who is struggling with sole custody of Lilo.
Converting the animated Lilo & Stitch to live-action is less of a milestone than The Jungle Book's realistically rendered animals or even The Little Mermaid's underwater scenes. Lots of movies use CGI to make aliens, and Lilo & Stitch is in good company with Star Wars, Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy and others.
The modern grade digital aliens are the source of even more comedy than they are in the animated film. The montage of Stitch's dangerous abilities is hilarious, and other aliens are so sophisticated they make condescending asides about Earth.
Live-action Lilo is a bit more rebellious, too. She cleverly sneaks into a local resort and tells hotel guests in the hot tub that she's in town for a convention.
Mean girls who tease Lilo are more prominent in this version. It is apparent they lack the island spirit since they prefer store bought friendship bracelets to the ones Lilo makes herself.
The new film does recreate some classic scenes, such as Lilo's feeding sandwiches to the fish and her love of Elvis records. New set pieces animate Stitch causing chaos at a wedding, a tiki bar and with several moving vehicles.
Another new wrinkle is that Jumba and Pleakley clone human bodies, allowing Magnussen and Galifianakis to appear on screen. They get to perform slapstick scenes too, as the aliens adjust to human bodies.
The pair also bring a portal gun with them and the film devises numerous sequences involving opening portals to other places.
Lilo & Stitch wasn't exactly new territory when the animated film came out. It was essentially a Disneyfied version of E.T., so remaking it in live-action only brings it closer to the archetype.
The value of the animated film, however, was it centering on Hawaiian culture and female protagonists. The live-action film continues this, giving roles to many Hawaiian actors.
The remake finds room for some of the original cast too. Jason Scott Lee, the original voice of surfer hunk David (Kaipo Dudoit in the remake), appears as a manager at one of Nani's jobs.
Tia Carrere, the original voice of Nani, now plays the social worker handling Nani's case. The original social worker, Cobra Bubbles, is still in the film. Courtney B. Vance plays him, now a full time CIA agent investigating the alien landing.
Making the social worker and Cobra separate characters makes the film a bit busy, bouncing between them, Pleakley and Jumba, Nani and Lilo and Stitch, but the film is fast paced enough to keep returning to the main characters.
This film also drives home that Nani is giving up college, a full scholarship no less, to care for Lilo. It is relevant, if laid on a bit thick and resolved a little too conveniently.
E.T.'s legacy of friendship between a child and an alien is safe, but it doesn't own the genre. Lilo & Stitch remains more sincere than Mac and Me and more wholesome than the Transformers movies.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
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