The Snapshot: In its attempt to modernize an animated fan-favourite, Disney's live-action take on Lilo & Stitch delivers charm and giggles, but stumbles over poor editing and odd changes to the story.
Lilo & Stitch
5 out of 10
PG, 1hr 48mins. Family Sci-Fi Comedy.
Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp.
Starring Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders, Sydney Agudong, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, Amy Hill, Tia Carrere and Courtney B. Vance.
Now Playing at Galaxy Cinemas Sault Ste. Marie.
When making a movie about a young Hawaiian girl and her chaotic blue alien friend, would anyone expect this to be a rational, thoughtful movie? Stitch, please!
As Disney studios continues to remake many of their fan favourite stories from its animated catalogue, it was only a matter of time before they brought the kooky concept of 2002’s uplifting sci-fi comedy Lilo & Stitch into the real world.
Yet the result, like Stitch himself, is manically good and bad at the same time. The bad news is the new script is awful, abandoning much of the care and nuance from the animated original. The expanded story is also terribly convoluted, and disastrously so for young children.
The good news, however, is that the story’s central duo of six-year-old Lilo (an adorable debut from Maia Kealoha) and her unlikely new friend from outer space are so likeable and adorable that it’s easy to enjoy being around them - even if the glitzy production around them doesn’t match that same talent.
For anyone who (somehow) doesn’t know the story, it tells of an unlikely friendship between Lilo, a young girl in Kauai who's just lost her parents, who befriends a dangerous and misbehaving blue alien named Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders) and tries to teach the wild creature to be good, as they form a new family, or ‘ohana.
The rest of the plot - including other aliens chasing Stitch to capture him, a CIA agent undercover, and big sister Nani trying to keep Lilo from child services - has always been messy. And director Dean Fleischer Camp has little control over the scattershot picture.
Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes’ new script needlessly complicates the story even further. Worse still is the pacing from one scene to the next is uncomfortably fast, so it’s difficult to make sense of everything going on.
Some of Stitch’s new gags made kids in my screening laugh, and even the adults once or twice. But most of the supporting cast, even with strong character commitment, was surprisingly humourless.
What was really disappointing was how terrible the editing was by Adam Gerstel. I found at least three continuity errors that were clearly overlooked. In between shots you can see characters in different outfits, props missing, or backgrounds changed.
For a blockbuster with this kind of budget, that lack of oversight is inexcusably lazy. And it’s true I haven’t always liked Disney’s live-action adaptations. But even the less enjoyable ones, like March’s Snow White, at the very least was clearly finished and fully produced.
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The story and its aspirationally heartwarming tone are most effective when Kealoha’s Lilo and Sanders’ Stitch are playing together. Agudong’s Nani rounds out a warm ‘ohana that makes for a central cast that’s easy to root for.
From there, however, the talent divides. One on hand, I loved the new female characters like Amy Hill’s neighbourly Tūtū and Tia Carrere (who voiced Nani in the animated film) as the new social worker Mrs. Kekoa.
On the other hand, the original story’s villain Gantu has been completely cut from the script, and most of his plot elements have been taken over by the dramatically transformed character of Dr. Jumba. Zach Galifanakis, normally a very funny actor, totally misses the mark as one of the story’s central characters.
Instead of the warm, mad scientist redeemed by his goofy curiosity as first played by David Ogden Stiers, this version of Jumba is a volatile, shallow jerk - whose lack of redemption and discovery drains the character of all humour and worth.
Within this story’s driving theme of finding goodness in family instead of madness in isolation, Jumba’s transformation is supposed to mirror Stitch’s - a detail fatally overlooked by Fleischer Camp and Galifanakis.
Truthfully, aside from Kealoha as Lilo, the only cast member who brings originality to their comedy is Billy Magnussen as Agent Pleakley.
Funny enough, Magnussen was a forgettable addition in Disney’s 2019 remake of Aladdin, which opened exactly six years ago this week. But in Lilo & Stitch he’s bright, energetic and consistently funny.
Where this remake best honours its source material is maintaining the story’s high stakes while keeping it non-imposing and wholesome for its young target audience. For young grade school audiences, parents should know this would be a great first trip to the movies.
Sadly, there’s no element in this revamped Lilo & Stitch that elevates the work from Sanders and Dean DeBlois’ animated tale over 20 years ago.
But I’ll admit, this new version did make me smile. It made me giggle a few times. And seeing the Pelekai family form their new ‘ohana was still touching as ever. So even if it’s too loose, maybe it was worth stitching this together after all.
A final word: special credit goes to actress Hannah Waddingham, voicing the Grand Councilwoman. This weekend, she marks an impressive feat: as an ensemble member in both Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible 8 (also opening today), she joins a small group of performers in the cast of two movies planning to debut at #1 and #2 of the box office in the same weekend.