{"id":11959,"date":"2025-05-24T18:00:34","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T22:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=11959"},"modified":"2025-07-26T13:29:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T17:29:13","slug":"lilo-stitch-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/05\/24\/lilo-stitch-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lilo & Stitch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Lilo & Stitch <\/strong>(2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Disney\/Sci-Fi-Comedy-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (action, peril and thematic elements)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Dean Fleischer Camp\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Dan Romer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Nigel Bluck\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 23, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders, Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, Courtney B. Vance, Hannah Waddingham, Kaipo Dudoit, Tia Carrere, Amy Hill, Jason Scott Lee.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0I still have a sour taste in my mouth from the recent live-action remake of Snow White. What were they thinking? The world may never know and maybe that\u2019s a good thing. I take a small measure of comfort in knowing audiences largely stayed away. There might be hope for us yet.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I didn\u2019t have any strong feelings either way for the LA remake of Lilo & Stitch<\/strong>. I have no sentimental attachment to the 2002 animated original. I saw it once when it first came out and again a couple of weeks ago just to refresh my memory. I like it fine, but it doesn\u2019t rise to the level of a Disney classic, at least not for me.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Given the studio\u2019s track record for LA remakes, I didn\u2019t set my expectations high for Lilo & Stitch<\/strong>. It looked like it might be fun, but looks can be deceiving. Imagine my surprise when I found myself enjoying it. It\u2019s actually one of the better LA remakes of a Disney animated film. It wisely retains the original\u2019s anarchic spirit with the titular alien being (Stitch for those who don\u2019t know) wreaking havoc while learning a valuable lesson from a little girl (Lilo for those who don\u2019t know). It\u2019s not only funny; it has a lot of emotion with its message about the importance of family- i.e. \u201cOhana means family. Family means no one gets left behind.\u201d Its emotional well runs deeper than the original. It\u2019s a change that works in its favor.<\/p>\n

\u00a0By now, you\u2019ve heard there are some story differences between the two versions. The one that\u2019s being talked about the most is the elimination of the main antagonist Gantu. He\u2019s been merged with Dr. Jumba (Galifianakis, The Hangover 1-3), the mad scientist who creates Stitch (known as \u201cExperiment 626\u201d) as a weapon of mass chaos. It gets him into big trouble with the United Galactic Federation on planet Turo. He gets in even deeper when 626 steals a police cruiser and heads to Earth. The Grand Councilwoman (Waddington, also on screens this weekend in Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning) orders Jumba to Earth to recapture the creature. She sends Earth expert Pleakley (Magnussen, No Time to Die) to help and keep an eye on the doctor.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Stitch (voiced again by the OG\u2019s co-director Chris Sanders) lands on the Hawaiian island of Kauai where he wastes no time causing trouble. He literally crashes a wedding and gets run over by a tourist trolley before winding up in an animal shelter. That\u2019s where he\u2019s found by Lilo (newcomer Maia Kealoha), a lonely 6YO orphan being cared for by her big sister Nani (Agudong, At Her Feet) after their parents\u2019 deaths. She\u2019s the kid who doesn\u2019t fit in. Some have argued that this character is on the autism spectrum and it could be true. In any event, she has no friends and has a tendency to cause trouble wherever she goes. She constantly tests Nani\u2019s patience. She tries hard to make it all work, but it\u2019s not enough to instill confidence in the social worker (Carrere who voiced Nani in the original) who thinks Lilo would be better off in foster care. She gives Nani a week to get it together or else.<\/p>\n

\u00a0ANYWAY, Lilo meets Stitch at the local animal center and falls in love with the wild blue \u201cdog\u201d right away. Stitch, who\u2019s being pursued by Jumba and Pleakley now in human form, sees the human child as a means of protecting himself from his would-be captors. Lilo takes him home much to the annoyance of Nani who already has enough on her plate. She can\u2019t even begin to imagine what lies in store next; namely, the CIA agent Cobra Bubbles (Vance, The Adventures of Huck Finn) who comes for Stitch after finding his crashed spaceship. Posing as a social services rep, he plans to capture the alien before the public finds out about him.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Nani gets more of a storyline in this Lilo & Stitch<\/strong>. She wants to go to college in San Diego to study marine biology, but she can\u2019t because she feels obligated to care for Lilo now that they\u2019re parents are gone. This is another change that makes this version a little better than the animated one. We understand her frustration better. I also like the addition of Amy Hill (she voiced the absent-minded shopkeeper in the OG) as a kindly neighbor who acts as a surrogate grandmother to the sisters. She\u2019s also the grandmother of David (Dudoit), the fire dancer who likes Nani in that special way. Hill brings her usual spunk to the role.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I do believe Lilo & Stitch<\/strong> will be a hit, especially with the kiddies. That is, if their reaction at this morning\u2019s showing is any indicator. They all seemed to love it. One little girl happily danced along to the closing music at the front of the theater. I can\u2019t speak for all the adults in the theater, but my wife liked it. It made her tear up at the end. It is a touching movie with it themes about family and being there for them. It\u2019s also quite funny at times although I think it could have done without the rude humor- a fart joke, really? The CGI is surprisingly good. I almost believed Stitch was a flesh-and-blood being. I can safely say it doesn\u2019t need to seen in 3D so save the extra money for the large popcorn with free refills.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Kealoha is brand new to the scene. Lilo & Stitch<\/strong> is her acting debut. She\u2019s a little spitfire, this one. She captures Lilo\u2019s wild and adventurous spirit very well. Never once is she cloying or annoying. Agudong is great as big sis Nani. You can feel her love for Lilo even in the child\u2019s worst moments. Galifianakis, considerably slimmer since his Hangover days, makes a good villain. Vance is fine as Agent Bubbles, but I miss Ving Rhames. Really, the whole cast does a fine job. I have no complaints in this area.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In general, I like Lilo & Stitch<\/strong>. Like the original, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be regarded as a classic, not like Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King. It\u2019s good, in fact it\u2019s better than the original, but it doesn\u2019t have that extra something that makes it special. It\u2019s a nice time at the movies for the family. Your kids will have a blast.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lilo & Stitch (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Disney\/Sci-Fi-Comedy-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (action, peril and thematic elements)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Dean Fleischer Camp\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Dan Romer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Nigel Bluck\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 23, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders, Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, Courtney B. Vance, Hannah […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11967,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Lilo-Stitch-POSTER-1.jpg?fit=620%2C918&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11959"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11970,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11959\/revisions\/11970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}