'Lilo and Stitch' (2025) Review: A Remake That Surfs on the Goodwill of the Original

Disney's live-action remake loses all the weirdness of the original when it isn't doing a shot-for-shot reenactment

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The 2002 release of Disney’s Lilo & Stitch marked a turning point for the animation titan. The Chris Sanders-directed and co-written story was a dark and melancholic exploration of friendship, family and trauma that wasn’t afraid to play up the weirdness and the harsh realities of living life. It was also ridiculously funny, charming, and is an enduring classic going on over 20 years. The latest Disney live-action remake of it though continues to ask the question: what do we actually want from these movies? If they hew too far from the source material, like The Little Mermaid, they’re not good. But, as with this new take on Lilo & Stitch, if they’re too similar to the original they’re also not good.

Lilo & Stitch 2025 isn’t a bad movie. Director Dean Fleischer Camp isn’t a stranger to sweet stories of loss, being the man behind Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, and co-screenwriters Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes certainly pay homage to the fan base that grew up with the movie. The casting is charming and the VFX are ridiculously good. The problem is the give-and-take nature of a script that slavishly recreates the original film’s greatest hits while breathlessly trying to leapfrog over those same moments to add in original storytelling that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Lilo (Maia Kealoha) is a lonely little girl living with her old sister Nani (Sydney Agudong) after their parents die. As Nani struggles to act as mother and sister, Lilo can’t seem to stay out of trouble or make friends. When Lilo prays for an angel it manifests in the form of Stitch, an alien experiment that crash-lands on Lilo’s Hawaiian island. On the run from his captors, Stitch befriends Lilo and the two form an unlikely bond meant to teach them the meaning of “Ohana.”

The opening scene has you seeing double with a near recreation of the Intergalactic Council overseeing Stitch’s case and the punishment of his creator Dr. Jumba Jookiba (Zach Galifianakis). The Grand Councilwoman (Hannah Waddingham) is prepared to send Stitch into exile but, like the original, he escapes and runs off with a police cruiser….yes, the red one. For the first 20ish minutes of this Lilo & Stitch, outside of condensing a lot of line readings—including much of Lilo’s Pudge the Fish speech which is a misfire—it’s a near shot-for-shot retread of the original.

And yet in these moments of duplication it’s impossible to ignore something feels off, and it’s not just hearing Galifianakis’s average voice performance for Jumba. Editor Phillip J. Bartel swiftly moves audiences from story beat to story beat with nary a minute to become enmeshed in what is being told. Stitch lands on Earth. Nani is overworked and can’t make time for her little sister. Lilo is lonely and gets into fights. A social worker (a very empathetic Tia Carrere) is threatening to remove Lilo. Jumba and annoying partner Pleakley (Billy Magnussen) are on Stitch’s heels. These moments all happen in such rapid succession that, if you didn’t know the movie, you’d think everything is vastly underwritten…because it is.

But Disney is more than aware that most of those watching this have seen the original movie, can quote it, and have probably watched it more than once so it’s not like they need to give context. But it doesn’t do anything to invest new viewers into the world of Lilo & Stitch. Much of Stitch’s trajectory in the first film wasn’t just about learning not to be naughty. It was about finding a family and a place where he belongs. He was the Ugly Duckling who didn’t fit. That’s all wiped away in favor of “Ohana” repetitions. Where Snow White tried to redefine what the term “fair” was,” Lilo & Stitch does the same with “bad.” Lilo and Stitch are said to not be bad but “just do bad things sometimes.” The movie’s theme feels more like a moral for a small child to clean up after themselves than anything deeper.

Lilo & Stitch (2002), though, was a deep movie. One that didn’t shy away from the difficult and frightening realities of the world. It’s why director Chris Sanders had such a hard time getting it made at the time. And while Nani and Lilo are still navigating the world of social workers and the threat of foster care the script shies away from getting too invasive into what that looks like. Carrere’s character is understanding of what Nani is doing, and the film’s awareness that Nani is still a child herself is a fantastic new addition.

But when things get too harsh, the film pivots. Lilo and Nani trying to verbalize their feelings about the line between sister and parent is a few stray lines before Stitch crashes into things. Nani being given an option that sees Lilo removed from her care cuts to Jumba and Pleakley’s shenanigans. When Nani tells Lilo “I need you to be in reality with me,” it’s easy to understand why Lilo isn’t because reality plays like little more than a pesky mosquito Pleakley wants to save.

The script is aware they need these moments, but never give them time to breathe. Take the original film’s presentation of Lilo and Nani’s fight after the social worker visits. It’s a fantastic moment of two sisters trying to one-up each other. (“Go to your room!” “I’m already IN my room!”). This same scene plays in 1.75x mode with the actresses spitting out the lines so fast the humor is entirely sucked out of it. This isn’t limited to the comedy, entire moments of introspection are leapfrogged to give us Lilo & Stitch’s Greatest Hits. This ends up dulling the film’s conclusion because by the time you have a moment to edge out a tear we’re on to the next thing.

The actors do a lot to lift up where the movie sags. Newcomer Kealoha is utterly darling and perfectly cast as Lilo. She has the right blend of comedic timing, vulnerability, and sweetness the character needs. She also does a great job of trying to assert herself opposite the wily Stitch. And for someone so young she is great at working with CGI (or the tennis ball that no doubt stood in for Stitch). Chris Sanders returns to voice Stitch and he slips right into what makes the character fun. Agudong is ultimately let down by the way Nani is written, but her performance is powerful, particularly in the third act when so much is reliant on her reaction to the realities of what is about to happen.

Billy Magnussen doesn’t do anything different from his past toothy-grinned, manic characters but it still works. His Pleakley is still overly in love with Earth but Magnussen adds such enthusiasm to his performance. Galifianakis is an odd bit of casting, playing the character too evil for a movie this light and yet not commanding enough for him to be an effective villain. And Courtney B. Vance is utterly pointless as Cobra Bubbles, newly minted as a CIA agent with barely any screen time of significance.

There’s a moment in this movie that involves Stitch and a defibrillator and that’s what Lilo & Stitch (2025) is. A vain attempt to shock a familiar story back to life. Hewing so close to the original most in the theater will just wonder why they aren’t watching the animated feature. And yet there’s just enough there to make it different, though dull in execution. Barely two months have passed since the last Disney remake, and though this is far better than Snow White this will probably end up right next to that retread as a movie you’ll barely remember come the fall.

Grade: D+

Lilo & Stitch is in theaters this Friday.