Released 23 years apart, but the same in a lot of ways, is the 2025 version of Lilo & Stitch a loving homage to the 2002 original, or just a heartless cash grab? There’s only one way to find out, it’s Film Vs Film… FIGHT!
Working at my local Odeon cinema in 2002 as a teenager, I had a front row seat for a peculiar time in Disney film history. A curious early millennium ‘blip’ where the classic style of fairy tale musical Disney animations were becoming sort of clichéd and tired. The rise of Pixar and other studios like DreamWorks were offering films for children/families that were off-centre and unique. Films like Shrek poked fun at Disney ‘perfection’, putting a more ‘adult’ spin on familiar classic stories.
Previously Disney had attempted to appeal to a slightly older audience with 2000’s The Emperor’s New Groove. A film that had such a troubled production, it basically resulted in a complete re-working of the story at the 11th hour. This resulted in a mad-cap comedy, which although upon release had somewhat of a lukewarm reception by audiences and critics, it has since become a beloved cult classic. Then in 2001’s Atlantis, Disney doubled down on the ‘no songs’ direction, delivering a more mature, darker film, with some amazing set pieces and deadpan humour. However, it was again met with indifference, I remember maybe only tearing a dozen tickets for the film at time and wondering why nobody was showing up?
But then in 2002, almost seemingly out of the blue, we got Lilo & Stitch. Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, both Disney veterans, having previously worked on 1998’s Mulan, they’re joint-directorial debut gave them a chance to show off their unique art-style and humour. Set-in present-day Hawaii, Lilo & Stitch follows precocious orphan, Lilo, as she encounters an alien (Stitch) who crashes down to Earth after escaping his creators. The film was bold, different and heartwarming, it’s dreamy water-colour backgrounds evoked the classic Disney of the 30’s and 40’s, but the story was fresh and funny. It seemed to turn everything that was held precious about Disney on its head, but somehow manage to keep the fundamentals of what we love emotionally about a well told Disney tale.
Which is why it’s such a shame that a great film like Lilo & Sitch got caught up in the flurry of live-action remakes last year. Disney seem to have no qualms with remaking some of their most beloved films, in the pursuit of profits and the 2025 remake couldn’t be any different from the 2002 original. Although I’m sure many of the film’s actors and crew were fans of the original (Chris Sanders even reprising his role as the voice of Stitch), they all seemed to fail in converting what made the original so special.
For starters, characters and their motivations in the 2025 version are altered entirely or even cut out. Like Jumba and Pleakley, the Laurel and Hardy-esque ‘villians’ of the film. Here, they don holographic disguises as humans (played by Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen) presumably to avoid extra CG animation and avoid the plot hole of the first film, that no amount of wigs and Hawaiian shorts could disguise two aliens walking around. Which is probably why they also cut out the character of Captain Gantu, a 12-foot tall (actual) villain of the film, much to the dismay of fans of the original. One by one, the fantastical elements of the 2002 version disappear or are replaced to practicality or necessity. Elements that could exist easily in the original due to its animated form, without justifying and audiences need for a dose of ‘reality’… just imagination.
The original is full of life, colour, but most importantly… timing. Sanders and DeBlois did a fantastic job of carefully crafting every scene around some kind of comedic or emotional beat that drives the story forward and entertains at the same time. They used cuts sparingly, letting the comedy and the animation play out, trusting that the audience won’t lose interest. Some moments, like when Lilo is training Stitch to fetch, then spraying him with a water bottle when he doesn’t, is almost a homage to the era of silent cinema. Not a word is spoken, but it’s all conveyed fantastically with strong animation and comedic timing.
In contrast, the 2025 film in its opening sequence alone (where Lilo is attempting to feed Pudge the fish, then head to her dance class) has no less than (if I’m accurate) 42 separate edits… 42!… it’s just disorientating, lazy filmmaking. The remake has some decent performances, the cast are certainly trying their best, Maia Kealoha is great as Lilo, and Sydney Elizebeth Agudong as her sister Nani also does a great job. They even elevated some of the sister-relationship beats here in absence of some of the other characters and plot points from the original. The production design is solid enough, but it just lacks that spark of wonder, especially when it’s 20 minutes longer than its predecessor, making it feel drawn out and uneven. The original was a tight 90 mins, with no fat on it at all, another reason that makes it infinitely re-watchable.
There’s a mindset that exists in Eastern cinema that the West always fails to grasp, that regardless of the medium… film is film. It doesn’t matter if a film exists in animated form, or it was shot with cameras and live actors, one medium is not inferior to the other. It’s the reason you don’t see the likes of Hayao Miyazaki remaking his animated classics like My Neighbour Totoro, because it already IS a film. The very medium of animation lends that story a presence and subtlety that live action simply couldn’t. The 2002 Lilo & Stitch was already a film, complete and fully realised in the best way it could possibly be.
I think it comes from an older attitude in the West of older media ‘crossing over’ to live action that somehow made it ‘legitimate’. Until 1978’s Superman, the character had only existed in cartoon, TV and comic form. So when a BIG SCREEN adaptation was announced, everyone lost their minds! Even in the era the 2002 Lilo & Stitch came out, I saw the excitement around film’s like 2002’s live action Scooby Doo. This isn’t to say that transferring a story from animation to live action can’t lend something new to it, but it has to dare to do it. What many of these live action remakes tend to do is follow the original virtually beat for beat in a “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach, replicating jokes, sets, and dialogue, almost always to a lesser effect. So, when I attempted to watch the 2025 version of Lilo & Stitch, everything that made the original so enjoyable, was lost in the obvious repetition of it all.
The music of Elvis featured heavily in the 2002 version and helped lend another unique angle to a different sort of Disney film. There was of course and orchestral score (composed by the great Alan Silvestri) but the Elvis songs punctuated moments in the film brilliantly. One thing the 2025 version does do admirably is cut back on Elvis, in favour of more traditional Hawaiian music to reflect that part of the world and the rich history of the people. This is one of the few things that gave this version some kind of distinction from the original in a film that largely follows the original beat for beat.
But that’s the thing, all art is subjective and even my reverence for the original is partially obscured by nostalgia. It’s me remembering watching it at my first real job, watching it multiple times after with my younger brothers on DVD, of it being one of the films that my now wife and I connected over when we first met (that and The Emperor’s New Groove). So, I’m sure there will be a whole new generation of children who enjoy this new version and remember it fondly as adults/watch it with their families. But I also hope that encourages them to seek out the original and enjoy that too.
Author: Arron, Marketing Department
