While I never saw the full movie, I saw enough clips on YouTube to see why most people agree movie remakes don’t get as unnecessary (let alone bad) as 1998’s remake of the Hitchcock masterpiece Psycho.
Apparently, when asked why he did the (nearly) shot for shot remake in the first place, director Gus Van Sant responded “So no one else had to.” This mindset is the only silver lining I can think of for Disney with their live action remakes, whether good or bad, and the remake of Lilo & Stitch falls in the latter category.
Those who know the original (which for me is not the best of the animated Disney movies, but is still solid entertainment) will see the similarities and differences immediately, as experiment 626 (still voiced by Chris Sanders) escapes an alien colony and lands on earth in Hawaii. He soon meets the rambunctious Lilo (a cute and effective newcomer named Maia Kealoha), a six year old living with her older sister Nani (Sydney Agudong), as their parents died years ago. Eventually, she names him Stitch.
Hot on Stitch’s trail is his creator Jumba (Zach Galifiankis) and Pleakley (Billy Magnussen), except this time, they are able to disguise themselves as humans instead of in cartoon drag.
If you don’t want to know any of the changes made in the remake, then stop reading, but I feel they have to be mentioned. One of these include adding a neighbor character in the elderly Tutu (Amy Hill) whose grandson/nephew (I can’t remember which) is David (Kaipo Dudoit). Also, while Cobra Bubbles (played here by Courtney B. Vance) was not known to be a CIA agent until the end of the original, he enters this version as exactly that, while the social services worker is played by Tia Carrere (the voice of the original Nani in the animated film).
Speaking of Nani, there is newly added character plot of her wanting to be a marine biologist (Lilo thinks it is the Army marines), but had that put on hold when the parents died. No points awarded if you think this remake will allow her character to follow her dream after she is encouraged to do so by her little sister.
It is already known online how the character of Gantu (the evil shark general guy) is not in the film. Therefore, the antagonist role moves to Jumba. Galifiankis is obviously a talented actor and comedian, but he makes the mistake of playing the character rather straight. The original (voiced by the late David Odgen Stiers) was able to at least give him some character with the accent work he did. Here, the character lacks depth and, most of all, menace.
Parents, the kids should be fine here. Aside from one minor swear (maybe two), you got nothing to worry about.
It is worth noting the director of the film is Dean Fleischer Camp, whose last film, 2022’s Marcel the Shell with Shoes on, was a pure cinematic delight. He is not to blame here, and neither are the actors. It is those in charge of making remakes of movies that never needed them in the first place (I mean, was there anything culturally wrong with the original this time?) It is not the worst of the remakes (in my mind, it is really difficult to do any worse than 2022’s Pinocchio), but that is not mean at all to be praise worthy.
Note: When leaving the theater, the youth of the audience (which was the vast majority) did not have the same vigor I sensed when leaving A Minecraft Movie. Just throwing that out there.
Seriously, what was the point? Oh, right…money.
Overall:
Nothing else to say 