Lilo & Stitch (2025) Review

“It’s an atrocity”

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

I always knew Lilo & Stitch would be the earliest of 2000s classics from Walt Disney to get remade because its popularity is too loud to ignore and not take advantage of. In 2025, the idea became a reality whether or not it was worthwhile.


PLOT


The remake follows the basic of the preceding plot with of course a modern update, so bear with me as I take a trip down memory lane. Alien scientist Jumba Jookiba is convicted by the United Galactic Federation for illegal experimentation, creating a near indestructible creature he labels ‘Experiment 626’. As he gets imprisoned, his creation is sent to exile for destructive behavior but he soon escapes and crash-lands on the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i within planet Earth. Grand Councilwoman offers Jumba the chance to be pardoned if he successfully captures him with the company of personal Earth expert Wendell Pleakley. On Kaua’i lives Nani Pelekai and her young sister Lilo who are still grieving over the recent death of her parents. Nani would give up her career path of marine biology to take care of her sister, whereas the latter gets kicked out of hula school when pushing her bully Mertle, who mocked her sister’s absence. With the social worker Mrs. Kekoa noticing she is struggling, she gives her tasks in order for to remain a fit guardian. With their neighbor Tūtū noticing Lilo needs a friend, she takes her to an animal shelter to adopt a pet. Unknowingly, the girl adopts 626 who pretends to be a dog after crash landing. She names him Stitch after tearing up Nani’s car seats. Jumba & Pleakley, under human disguises, follow the rogue alien knowing he’s too dense to swim, but struggle to snatch him from his adopted family. Stitch quickly continues to make it hard in adjusting as he causes a fire in the resort Nani works with Tūtū’s grandson David Kawena, causing Lilo’s sister to lose her job. CIA agent Cobra Bubbles investigates Stitch’s crashlanding and poses as Kekoa’s social director to get a sample of him. As Kekoa insists Nani to get a new job immediately, that alone becomes a struggle due to Stitch’s antics with Lilo. She does score a gig as surfing instructor and she celebrates by later surfing with Lilo after her first shift. It sadly goes awry shortly after because Jumba & Pleakley’s attempt to capture Stitch causes them to wipeout where Lilo almost drowns. The girl recovers at the hospital, but the incident leads to Kekoa suggesting Nani to surrender custody of her in order for the Hawaiian government to cover her health insurance costs. As both sisters have a final night together, Stitch chooses to take responsibility of his actions by returning to the shelter. When the Grand Councilwoman cancels her deal with Jumba over his incompetence to capturing 626 sooner, he goes rogue and escapes Pleakley to better his chances retrieving his creation. By morning, Lilo isn’t found in her home to be picked up by Kekoa & Bubbles, due to wanting to see Stitch again. Jumba would find and chase them both to the family home where he would destroy the place until he gets 626 to surrender, revealing to Lilo he was using her for protection. As he brings him upon his own ship, he intends to erase his empathy until Lilo stows away to free him. When ejecting Jumba from the ship, the ship crashes and they both get trapped underwater until Stitch helps her reemerge while he drowns. Pleakley tells the humans where Lilo would be, leading to David picking her up while Nani saves Stitch at her sister’s request. David is then able to save him by jump starting his lungs. Immediately after does the Grand Councilwoman re-arrest Jumba and intend to do the same to Stitch. Seeing his change of heart however leads to her allowing his exile to remain on Earth with his new family. As Pleakley is allowed to stay too, Kekoa proposes to Nani that Tūtū & David will adopt Lilo while she lives her dream to pursue marine biology in University of California, San Diego. Nani only goes through with it after Lilo gives her her blessing, knowing their parents would want her to follow her dream. The film ends in an epilogue that Nani would settle into her dormitories, start dating David and would visit Lilo & Stitch via Jumba’s portal gun; Bubbles & Pleakley would keep in touch as well.


THOUGHTS


There is no denying that remaking a 2000s animated gem would be a big gamble on Disney’s end, much like how the studio would later do the same with Moana when it hasn’t even turned a decade old. My faith remained stored off of the fact this would be helmed by Dean Fleischer Camp who created the adorable mockumentary franchise, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. He knew how what a big sell in creature adorability that can go into storytelling and he makes it look easy when giving the most ideal live action makeover you expect from Stitch. The other aliens look great as well from Grand Councilwoman to the dynamic duo of Jumba & Pleakley who don’t last long as a pair this time, but Stitch is the selling point of course so you know he is at his best detailed in comparison. I mean just off of the fact Chris Sanders would return to voice the character proves that we’d be in safe hands. Having said that, I’m honestly not mad with the majority of changes that occur. Rather than have Gantu appear for a final boss battle, making Jumba the central villain makes more sense because you can’t just snap out of the deranged genius mindset he’s proud of and Zach Galifianakis does a good job embracing his greed & narcissism, much like how Billy Magnussen was on point in making Pleakley a curious alien who gets too flamboyant when getting comfortable of his surroundings. The only takeaway was not having him cross dress the way he did in the original. And from the voice alone, Hannah Waddingham also nailed it in portraying Grand Councilwoman the ideal firm leader you’d expect for an alien government. Like Jumba, she didn’t expect Stitch to change but seeing proof firsthand that he could was enough to say rehabilitation is possible for the most unexpected of individuals. If I’m gonna get into Easter eggs, I gotta say it was cool to notice actors from the original play completely different roles made for this remake specifically. I just had a big smile noticing Amy Hill as the warm Tūtū after previously voicing the oblivious Mrs. Hasagawa in the franchise. It was another surprise to see Jason Scott Lee as Nani’s strict boss at the resort, who previously voiced David in the original, but then I was caught off guard seeing Tia Carrere as Kekoa here who had voiced Nani previously, both characters who have different perspectives on wanting what’s best for Lilo. This is where I have to things become a big debate on if this movie does the predecessor justice as the ending is extremely different from the rest of the story. From what I’ve seen on social media, some audiences have seemed to believe that Nani’s decision to go to college overseas goes against the meaning of Ohana. I don’t agree with this at all because I think that it more expands it since Lilo gets to be with people she can trust rather than start over with strangers. If you ask me, that’s the best compromise you can ask for. Some have even said Nani is selfish to pursue her dreams the moment she had a better opportunity to do so. That’s not how it went because she put aside what she wanted to make Lilo her only priority and she didn’t go for it until getting her blessing she wasn’t even depending on. So there is no selfish bone in her body to begin with for those who blindly think so. Fans think it’s a rush to throw in Nani had dreams to give up, but if you remember the shrine of trophies in the original, it’s not really a surprise she was halting her dreams. She could’ve gone to a local college in Hawaii, but that would’ve left her in debt while still taking care of Lilo that would’ve taken her forever to recover from, so I too support her going to California because you’d be insane not going to a college that offers paying for your attendance. And it is not at all like she was straight up abandoning her sister because she has the advantage of the portal gun rather than airplane commute. If she really were to abandon her, she wouldn’t bother visiting. And I’m sure she liked David way before she lost her parents due to how easygoing Kaipo Dubdoit portrayed him, but she couldn’t pursue him because she didn’t want to lose focus on her main priority. Nani may be an overachiever for how she tries to reach her goals, but actress Sydney Elizebeth Agudong makes it clear she is a selfless sister and she proved it whenever she focused on protecting Lilo. Tūtū did ask her if she wondered what Lilo wanted and the obvious answer is a friend that makes her happy as she wished. She made sure she kept that wish when saving Stitch because she finally understood how much he meant to her. Maia Kealoha was goddamn adorable as Lilo for being spot on in letting her imagination do the thinking like any kid would. If it wasn’t so obvious, being mischievous was her way to cope with her loss and the difference she had from stitch is that she had limits since she didn’t let him destroy the only photos she had of her parents when he was settling into the house. I also can’t blame her for trying to teach him to be mature because at her age, it was the bare minimum for her to help her sister out. In the end, both her and Stitch become so attached because they fill that void of loneliness. While Lilo needed a friend, Stitch needed purpose and having her back gave him that better than being Jumba’s weapon; And that is why Councilwoman compromised in letting him stay on Earth. No family is perfect and when we take the time to look past our flaws, there is still someone to love and that is the point here of this story. Last but not least, I thought it was cool seeing Courtney B Vance as Bubbles because he was the ideal fancast to make reality if wanting to distinguish from Ving Rhames’ voice performance. His motive remains the same on wanting to be observant enough to know what to do next as an agent. However, his seriousness comes from caring, thus keeping in touch with Lilo like Pleakley would. Whatever was missing in the original that didn’t make the cut here, I wouldn’t rule out being in a future sequel. I’ve said a lot of things that defend why it works on its own, but I have different things that I disliked more than the continuity error of Nani petting Stitch in the end not matching. For example, the security guard makes the same mistake as Gantu did in the original when telling Stitch how the weapons meant to be against him work. I mean that’s just asking for an escape to happen even after learning he’s supposed to be smarter than 100 supercomputers. It’s even on Nani to not have keys to the house if she didn’t want Lilo to lock her out. And how was Stitch pushing the go pedal on the go kart when he crashes the party? It wouldn’t hurt showing he put a brick or a box on it. It’s even absurd that the animal control that picked him up didn’t even freak out that he had six limbs. While it’s one thing for Jumba to keep Pleakley with him after accidentally tranquillizing him when he could’ve pursued Stitch sooner without him, I’m more surprised more with the fact he doesn’t try capturing him at night with the portal gun and no other civilian did a thing when they passed by driving seeing him drag him across the street. Heck, it’s even a surprise David didn’t struggle much picking up Stitch after Jumba’s interference at the beach, whereas Nani took a while to save him in the climax. Either he’s just ripped or lucky he didn’t sink any lower. Personally, the Grand Councilwoman should’ve just sent other personnel with Pleakley instead of Jumba because the latter was bound to be reckless in effort to capture Stitch. It gets all the more ridiculous Jumba didn’t notice Lilo sneak in when having four eyes. If you can ignore these issues however, then you’re still in for a good time. In conclusion, 2025’s Lilo & Stitch earns its billion dollar success for pushing its effort in having us understand the heart it’s always been about. If you enjoyed the original, I hope you have tolerance in the big difference it brings to the table.