A One Mann’s Movies review of “Lilo & Stitch” (2025).
“Disney hits a dead end with this abomination – 1 star” comments Kevin Maher in The Times today. Not for the first time, I have to disagree with Mr Maher. I have never been a great fan of these Disney live-action remakes. (According to Maher, these seem to have been put on hold before we get to the next planned production of “Tangled”). And possibly it helps that this is one of the few Disney animated films that I haven’t actually seen. But, for me, “Lilo and Stitch” has “HIT!” written all over it as we go into the UK half-term holidays. I can see cinemas rammed to the rafters with eager pre-teen kids absolutely loving it. It is that rare beast: a film that makes the kids laugh AND makes the parents laugh (but normally at different things).
Above all, it made my granddaughter Eva Jones guffaw with laughter throughout the whole thing. It led her to leave me this review. (You might possibly also hear this on next week’s Kermode and Mayo podcast, since – like her “Snow White” review – I sent it in to them).
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Eva Jones Rating:
“Lilo & Stitch” Plot:
Lilo (Maia Kealoha) is orphaned and being brought up, as best she can, by her sister Nani (Sydney Agudong) on the Hawai’ian island of Kaua’i. But she is lonely and friendless and one night, as she sees a falling star, she wishes for a new best friend to come into her life. Cue Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders), an alien genetically-modified wrecking ball of a creature, who needs human protection as a team of agents are sent to earth to retrieve him/her/them/it.
Certification:
UK: U; US: PG. (From the BBFC web site: “Very mild threat, violence, upsetting scenes, rude humour, language”.)
Talent:
Starring: Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong, Chris Sanders, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen,
Courtney B. Vance, Amy Hill, Tia Carrere, Kaipo Dudoit, Hannah Waddingham.
Directed by: Dean Fleischer Camp.
Written by: Chris Kekaniokalani Bright & Mike Van Waes. (Based on the 2002 animated film screenplay by Chris Sanders & Dean DeBlois).
Running Time: 1h 48m.
“Lilo & Stitch” Summary:
Positives:
- A fun-filled romp for the kids with enough comedy for adults
- A heart-warming message about family, mixed with the usual ‘is he dead?’ tension for kids
- Charming performances from newcomer Maia Kealoha as well as Sydney Agudong as the two sisters.
- I found Billy Magnussen and Zach Galifianakis quite funny as the hapless alien hunters.
Negatives:
- The clever adult one-liners tended to dry up somewhat in the second half.
- The gooey saccharine ending relies on a significant volte-face by some of the characters.
- A near-death experience for Stitch might be distressing for young kids.
Review of “Lilo & Stitch”:
A half-decent Disney Live-Action.
“It’s not bloody Shakespeare”. But, as Eva’s reaction shows, it is a solid piece of junior entertainment that the target audience will lap up. Unusually for me, I’ve not seen the original 2002 animated version yet, but I’m told that the new film pretty slavishly sticks to the same scenes, although (my daughter Jenn informs me) some of the jokes were new.
Thankfully, it is one of those welcome films for parents where there are some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. There are some clever one-liners and a stunning visual joke with Jumba (Zach Galifianakis) falling through a portal in the floor only to reappear in a ceiling portal directly above it in an infinite loop! (The way he gets out of this is pretty clever and funny too.) For me, the first half of the film seems a lot better in regard to the adult-oriented comedy than the second. It’s almost as if the scriptwriters started off with that goal in mind and then it slipped their mind as they continued writing.
Slapstick comedy is also provided by the disguised aliens – ‘earth-expert’ Pleakley (Billy Magnussen) and mad-scientist Jumba (Zach Galifianakis) – searching for Stitch. Kevin Maher in his review described them as astoundingly unfunny” and “attempting some buddy comedy humour from hell”. Again, I disagree!
Standard Disney heartwarming plot.
Why do Disney films insist on orphaning their protagonists so readily? Here again, we are in a family where the parents (cue the smiling family picture on the wall) have both died (for reasons unknown). The older sister Nani (cutely played by Sydney Agudong) is wanting to study to be a marine biologist but cannot take up her college offer as she has to care for young Lilo (Maia Kealoha). There is also the kindly but firm social worker Mrs. Kekoa (played by Tia Carrere, who was the voice of the older sister in the 2002 version!) who threatens to break up the sisters unless Nani can get her act together.
This of course becomes increasingly impossible when the already mischievous Lilo gets teamed with the anarchically destructive Stitch! So, we do go to some dark places in the third reel, before closing with a rather too cutesy and convenient ending. In this finale, all of the hard and flinty people doing their jobs – including the Grand Councilwoman (voiced by Hannah Waddingham) and the CIA X-Files guy Cobra Bubbles (Courtney B. Vance) – suddenly go COMPLETELY against type and get a gooey soft centre.
Note that the dark part of the film also includes the near-death of Stitch through drowning. The emphasis here for younger viewers is the word “near”: this is worth perhaps stressing to under 6’s ahead of time to avoid the psychological damage that WE were subject to with (depending on your age) the ‘death’ of Baloo in “The Jungle Book” or the ‘death’ of “E.T.”. in that film.
Good performances.
Much of the film is carried by the young newcomer Maia Kealoha playing Lilo who is quite delightful. Sydney Agudong at 24 years-old is perhaps stretching the ‘late-teen’ credibility of her role a tad, but also delivers a good performance. And it’s always fun to see Amy Hill on the screen as the kindly and very helpful neighbour, immediately recognisable as the bar-owner Sue from “50 First Dates”. Some of the other performances were a bit ‘amateur-hour’, but the kids won’t notice!
But if, in this “Stitch: Impossible” week, you are putting a pub trivia-quiz together, then a good question would be “What is the acting connection between “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” and “Lilo and Stitch”? The answer is Hannah Waddingham who plays Admiral Neely, captain of the aircraft carrier in MI-TFR and the voice of the Grand Councilwoman in this film.
Summary Thoughts on “Lilo & Stitch”
It’s a fun and wholesome Disney film that comes as a welcome surprise after a string of mediocre live-action remakes. I’ve actually lowered my rating from 4-stars to 3.5 stars, since I think I was being too heavily influenced by Ms. Eva Jones! But it’s still a good watch and I think it will do very well with the younger audience next week.
It’s interesting by the way that the director is Dean Fleischer Camp whose only previous feature film was the quirkily odd “Marcel The Shell With Shoes On“.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “Lilo & Stitch”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5fMyIImwEY.
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