Film Review: Lilo & Stitch

Lilo & Stitch
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Walt Disney Pictures and Rideback
In Theaters: 05.23.2025

The Disney remake factory is relentless and yes, it’s getting very tired and frustrating. Nevertheless, I find no value in joyfully ripping them to shreds purely for the sake of doing so. If you’re a purist who doesn’t want to see a hair on Snow White’s head touched, don’t see the movie, but recognize that it does mean that you don’t get to have an opinion. Lilo & Stitch is a far more contemporary classic, and as such it may feel more like fair game to purists, yet it’s all the more redundant.

On the planet Turo, the United Galactic Federation led by the Grand Councilwoman (Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso, The Fall Guy) imprisons Dr. Jumba Jookiba (Zach Galifianakis, The Hangover) for illegal genetic experiments, including the creation of Experiment 626 — an aggressive, highly intelligent creature with inherently destructive tendencies. When 626 escapes to Earth and crash-lands on Kauaʻi, Hawaii, he’s mistaken for a dog and adopted by a lonely girl named Lilo (Maia Kealoha) who names him Stitch. Lilo lives with her older sister Nani (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, At Her Feet, Trapped in The Farmhouse), who struggles to be her guardian after their parents’ death. As Lilo teaches Stitch about family, agents from space — including Jumba and Earth expert Pleakley (Billy Magnussen, Game Night, No Time To Die) — try to recapture him. Meanwhile, Mrs. Keoka (Tia Carrere, Wayne’s World, True Lies as well as the voice of Nani in the original), a well-meaning yet imposing social worker, questions Nani’s ability to care for Lilo, and she is soon joined by a mysterious second social worker, Cobra Bubbles (Courtney B. Vance, The Hunt For Red October), who just might have an ulterior motive behind his interest in the sisters and their situation. All the while, Stitch manages to just barely pass as a dog, leaving chaos in his wake as he  attempts to avoid capture, but through Lilo’s care, he begins to understand the meaning of ‘ohana — family, and that no one gets left behind or forgotten.

Director Dean Fleischer Camp is hot off the towering success of Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, a modern animation/live action hybrid the easily ranks among the best films of the decade, and while it’s understandable that he’d jump at the chance to work for Disney, it’s frustrating to see a promising master chef tasked with reheating leftovers. Lilo & Stitch ranks among one of the more successful dishes that Disney has recooked in recent years in that it largely captures the spirit of the original and provides plenty of entertainment value, but it has nothing fresh to add to the mix, following the original recipe closely with occasional overthought alterations that don’t always work. One of the biggest problems for me was the Cobra Bubbles character, hilariously portrayed by Pulp Fiction and Mission: Impossible star Ving Rhames in the original as a towering, deep-voiced man who was clearly not who he claimed to be. The broadness of the character was perfectly suited to the manic silliness of the animated original, but he simply doesn’t play in a more real-world setting. This is so apparent that the character of Mrs. Kekoa has been added, and while it’s great to see Carrere again in anything, the script is unable to balance the presence of both, and the capable Vance is often floundering to try to find his place in the movie. The movie fares best when focused on the titular relationship, and it’s great to have Chris Sanders, the co-director of the original who went on to give us How To Train Your Dragon, The Call of the Wild and The Wild Robot, voicing Stitch once again. The new movie is cute, energetic and entertaining, but too often it plays like a highlights reel, and the character dynamics manage to feel rushed yet overthought at the same time. 

The adorable and endearing Kealoha is the best thing about the film, even if the full quirky, oddball charm of the character of Lilo doesn’t entirely translate to this version (the Elvis fixation that proved so central to the original is merely an afterthought here, and feels tacked on).  If the chemistry between Kealoha and Agudong is the film’s strongest elements, the lack of sanlam between Galifianakis and Magnussen is the weakest. Magnussen is a hoot as Pleakley, and the goofy, nerdy, character actor energy coming from a living Ken doll is an intriguing mix. Galifianakis is neither convincingly menacing nor nearly funny enough for the role of Jumba Jookiba, and he simply doesn’t belong in the part.

Lilo & Stitch is an enjoyable effort that does a serviceable job of echoing the original, but nothing more. The filmmakers have a solid handle on the material, and it makes for an enjoyable time for the kids. There’s simply a better one to be had by staying home and watching the real thing on Disney+. While fans may be pleased that they didn’t get it hopelessly wrong, it’s still a never-ending oddity that there’s such a large audience that really wants to pay to see a replica of the same movie. In the words of another classic sci-fi comedy, the best description of Lilo & Stitch is that it’s “mostly harmless.” —Patrick Gibbs 

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