A lonely Hawaiian girl befriends a runaway alien, helping to mend her fragmented family. (from IMDB)

It's live action remake time again, and the latest entry for Disney is a remake of their fan-favorite 2002 animated film, Lilo and Stitch. For me, personally, I was older (in my early 20's) when the original film debuted, and so I wasn't quite as taken by it as others were. I can understand, though, that kids would love it - especially with how crazy Stitch is - and it makes total sense to revisit this title in 2025, because now those kids are grown up with, most likely, kids of their own. So, yeah, while I never loved the original, how does its live action remake hold up?

To me, this Lilo and Stitch feels a lot like the 90s live action Disney movies to me. Director Dean Fleischer Camp, who gave us the delightful 2021 indie film, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, helms this adaptation, and he does a pretty good job. Characters like Lilo and her sister Nani translate really well to live action, while they go the "Body Snatchers" route for the alien characters of Jumba and Pleakley. This changes the idea that the aliens go unnoticed in disguise and instead lets them masquerade as humans - basically as the actual voice actors for their animated alien forms -- so sometimes we have Zach Galifianakis as a human form of Jumba and Billy Magnussen as the human form of Pleakley. It works - especially since, who could believe they could hide in plain sight as their alien forms? - but it's definitely a deviation from the original film. The shark-alien-villain Captain Gantu was removed entirely from the film, giving Jumba most of the heavy lifting to do as the central villain. They did, however, introduce a couple new characters, including a grandmother of their neighbor David, named Tutu, and a social worker who is played by Tia Carrere, who voiced Nani in the 2002 film -- I thought that was an especially nice touch. This version also focuses a lot on the relationship between Nani and Lilo, and the emotional core of their story.

For the most part, though, I couldn't shake the feeling of "this just wasn't necessary to make" when the film started. It opens with all-CG realistic-looking aliens out in space before bringing the story to Earth, and it just feels slightly off. Granted, I don't have an emotional attachment to the original, so I suspect fans might get a kick out of seeing this world come to life. It took a little to warm me up to the film and concept - especially as we follow around Pleakley and Jumba clumsily stumbling about in Hawaii in human form, which just feels corny and especially aimed at children - but once Stitch enters Lilo's life, it's a lot easier to get pulled into the story and care about our central characters. I also really enjoyed Sydney Agudong as Lilo's older sister, Nani. It's a role that could end up being really obnoxious or quickly irritating, but she does a great job helping you empathize with her character as a young caretaker of her little sister and a young adult who has her own dreams, too. And Maia Kealoha is truly adorable as Lilo. Her performance is hardly perfect, but it works for the character and what the story needs, and I think they did a solid job casting her.

I'm not even entirely sure what it is I never loved about the original; maybe I always found the drama over Lilo's custody a little too heavy or real - especially in an animated kids movie involving aliens. Disney movies often deal with relatable emotional situations, but Lilo and Stitch always kind of felt all over the place. This version, maybe because it's not animated, feels more grounded to me. And tossing Stitch into the mix works because it lightens the family dramatic aspects. I hate to admit it, but if I had to pick between the two as which version I'd be more willing to watch at any given moment, I'd probably pick this one. No, it's not perfect, but for some weird reason, I think this storytelling format works better with the human storyline and drama.

Content-wise, Lilo and Stitch (2025) is pretty family-friendly. I was surprised to hear one "h*ll," and at least two of "Oh my G-d," but I suppose that's fairly common for even kids movies these days. There's nothing graphic or bloody, but Jumba's human form is briefly seen with some scrapes on his face. And there is some weightiness with the themes of Lilo and Nani having lost their parents tragically, as well as Lilo being bullied and Nani trying not to lose custody of her little sister. There's also some heaviness to some of the action, like Jumba blasting holes all over Lilo and Nani's home (which also happens in the 2002 film), and the story drives home the heart of family, using the Hawaiian culture to anchor that theme.

These live action remakes certainly aren't for everyone, and I'm not even a huge fan of them. (I thought the new How to Train Your Dragon remake was good, but totally unnecessary. And I'd definitely pick the original animated version over the new one.) But fans of Stitch will probably love this version - at least as a companion to all that preceded it. It's a decent update, and a fairly harmless way to spend 97 minutes.

Lilo and Stitch (2025) is available now at digital retailers. It comes with a decent amount of extras, including:

EXTRAS

1. Ohana Means Family: Making Lilo and Stitch (16:34)
2. Drawn to Life (6:54)
3. Bloopers (1:35)

DELETED SCENES (1:57) [Play All]

1. Nani Cleans Up
2. My Name is Nani

Lastly, there's a Scenes with Stitch option for anyone interested.