Disney’s live-action remakes thus far have mostly focused on the stone-cold classics; the big sweeping epics. 2002’s animated Lilo & Stitch is not one of the studio’s most glittering jewels. It’s a sweet, funny, simple story with a cute central duo and modest scale (thanks to a smaller than typical budget). It turns out to be an excellent candidate for a do-over, able to establish a personality of its own without the original looming over it.
In live-action mode, Lilo & Stitch has some of the charm of an ’80s Amblin movie, like E.T. or Gremlins. Lilo (Maia Kealoha) is an orphaned Hawaiian kid who keeps accidentally getting in trouble. Her elder sister, Nani (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong), is trying to keep her on the straight and narrow after the death of their parents. Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders, director of the 2002 film) is a genetically engineered alien. When he’s banished from his home planet, considered too dangerous to live, he escapes to Earth, envisaging a reign of destruction. Instead, he has to pose as a dog and move in with Lilo to evade the aliens tailing him. As Stitch tries to avoid capture and Lilo risks being taken away by social services, these two misfits form an unlikely bond.
It bounces along energetically under the direction of Dean Fleischer Camp, who made 2024’s adorable Marcel: The Shell With Shoes On. This is a very different proposition to that film, but Fleischer-Camp shows the same ability to quickly establish a beating heart to his story. The relationship between Nani and Lilo feels immediately strong but potentially breakable, giving the film some believable stakes. And you instantly buy into Lilo and Stitch as a team.
It has the charm of an ’80s Amblin movie, like E.T. or Gremlins
Maia Kealoha is a brilliant find. She fully sells the reality that she’s performing opposite a real creature, rather than a digital effect, and has superb comic timing, delivering many of her lines with the world-weary sarcasm of a seasoned stand-up. Her role could be bratty, but she never is. Agudong is equally impressive, bringing emotional weight to a character who could just be a scolding fun-sponge.
Any shortcomings with this version are the same as in the original. The ‘villains’, Stitch’s creator (a muted Zach Galifianakis) and an Earth-loving alien agent (Billy Magnussen, giving it everything) aren’t nearly as vivid as the heroes, and the third act is a smidge jumbled.
None of that, though, takes away from chaotic charm at its core. Lilo & Stitch may be a B-list Disney animation, but it’s one of the best of the remakes.
In cinemas worldwide Fri May 23.