Movie Review: Lilo and Stitch

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B-

Though flawed this is a marked improvement over recent Disney remakes. 

Even as a huge Disney fan, I admit that many of the recent live action Disney remakes, have been very poor. That is why I went into this movie not expecting much of anything. Perhaps this is why despite this film's obvious flaws, I actually enjoyed this movie. While obviously the 2002 movie is superior, this is a fun movie in and of itself. 

The best part of this film is the sister relationship. This remake actually expands on this part of the movie, and it does a very good job at it. You can feel the love between these two sisters throughout the film, even when they are fighting. This sister relationship never feels anything less than completely believable. Maia Kealoha and Sydney Elizebeth Agudong have great chemistry that makes the scenes between them all the more poignant. This leads to some surprisingly effective emotional moments. Director Dean Fleischer Camp brings a lot of the same low-key charm to these scenes that he did to the wonderful Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022). Stitch is also very well handled here. His character is the perfect mixture of maniac energy and good-hearted likability. After the horrible CGI dwarfs in Snow White (2025), I am happy to report that Stitch's conversion to CGI is much smoother and does a better job capturing the character. Also helping is that Disney brought back Chris Sanders (who not only voiced Stitch in the 2002 film but also co-directed and co-wrote that movie) to voice Stitch again. The humor with Stitch often hits the mark very well. 

While Dean Fleischer Camp did a great job of bringing a low-key charm to the smaller scenes, the more action packed and sci-fi heavy scenes lack the excitement and fun that they did in the original. Though this has much to do with that it is impossible to capture the energy and imagination of the classic animated movie in a live action film. Some things just work better being animated. I also felt that though the humor with Stitch was often times very funny in this remake, the humor involving the other aliens almost consistently fell flat. I don't want to give away any spoilers but some of the changes to the story aren't always for the better. 

This may not be a Disney classic (like the 2002 film is) but I had a good time watching it and that is more than I can say for some of the other recent Disney remakes.