THE STORY – A lonely Hawaiian girl befriends a runaway alien, helping to mend her fragmented family.
THE CAST – Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong, Billy Magnussen, Hannah Waddingham, Chris Sanders, Courtney B. Vance & Zach Galifianakis
THE TEAM – Dean Fleischer Camp (Director), Chris Kekaniokalani Bright & Mike Van Waes (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 108 Minutes
It is happening again. Disney has foraged through their back catalog like an iPad baby scrolling through Disney+, and this time, they’ve landed on “Lilo & Stitch” as their latest animated classic to get the live-action treatment. The 2002 original is a gem from what was otherwise a rough decade for the preeminent animation studio and has since grown into a contemporary favorite, especially for millennials (we all had one friend who would incessantly make a Stitch impression). In some ways, it’s almost surprising that a live-action version hasn’t been made sooner – Disney has favored melding real human actors with animated sidekicks going all the way back to “Mary Poppins.” But is there a real reason to remake “Lilo & Stitch” outside of trying to keep Disney’s accountants happy? If there is, director Dean Fleischer Camp’s adaptation doesn’t find it. It’s practically a carbon copy of the delightful animated original, but with most of the charm and beauty missing. It hardly even serves as a showcase for the naturally gorgeous Hawaiian scenery.
As in the original film, this opens with the space trial of Dr. Jumba Jookiba (Zach Galifianakis), an alien scientist who is being sentenced for the crime of genetic experimentation, which led to the creation of Experiment 626 – a troublesome creature with an appetite for destruction, who will eventually become known as “Stitch” (voiced by Chris Sanders, who brought Stitch to life in the original, which he also co-directed). Stitch escapes his confinement and steals a spaceship, eventually crash-landing on one of the islands of Hawaii. There, a young girl named Lilo (Maia Kealoha) – a troublesome creature with an appetite for destruction – lives with her big sister Nani (Sydney Agudong), who also serves as her sole guardian after the recent death of both of their parents. Nani struggles to be both a loving sister and a responsible proxy parent, and after a disastrous meeting with a social worker (Tia Carrere, the original voice of Nani), she may not be able to hold onto Lilo for much longer. Soon after Stitch slams into the island they call home, he and Lilo become unlikely companions. But Jumba and alien Earth expert Agent Pleakley (Billy Magnussen) are hot on their proverbial and literal tails, tasked with bringing Stitch back to the United Galactic Federation.
To be clear, saying this opens in the same manner as the animated film isn’t an exaggeration. Indeed, dialogue, character and location designs, and even specific visual and verbal jokes are lifted right out of the original’s first scene. Even the transition from outer space to the waters of Hawaii is practically identical. From that point on, the film is very careful not to stray too far from the structure of the animated movie, and that trepidation is felt throughout. The remake also adopts the frenetic, energized pacing typically found in animation, but here, that’s achieved via rapid, unintelligible editing. The film speeds along, undercutting punchlines and visual gags with its own frantic pace. Strangely (but not unexpectedly, given the visual stylings of modern Disney films), this film doesn’t take a cue from its predecessor when it comes to creating beautiful screen images. As has come to be depressingly expected from the blockbusters of today, the color palette is muted and dull, captured with an uncreative camera that’s more concerned with merely putting things in the frame rather than constructing visually striking moments. More than almost any other element, this feels like the film’s greatest crime. Disney, you shot this in Hawaii! The place that’s shorthand for “paradise”! There’s simply no excuse.
It might seem like a waste of time to deconstruct and question the internal logic of a science fiction film like this, but placing it so squarely in the non-stylized and unexaggerated real world only serves to highlight some of the story’s stranger aspects. One of the most significant leaps of logic the film makes (besides, you know, the whole alien thing) is the way that all of the humans in the movie quickly accept the idea that Stitch is some sort of strange dog. The most apprehension this fact gets is the occasional adult saying something like, “Are you sure that’s a dog?” And these queries are quickly brushed past. Here, it simply doesn’t work, and it’s not even played off as a joke. It just serves to create an odd, uncomfortable dichotomy between the grounded, real-world story and the comic sci-fi adventure alongside it.
Filming this story in our real world organically raises the stakes on the human storyline. This has the unfortunate side effect of making Stitch’s rascally antics less adorable and more frustrating. Here, his constant destruction and chaos-making – which causes trouble for Lilo and Nani – serves as a very real problem for the two-person family that’s desperately trying to stay together. It’s borderline harrowing to watch Stitch tear through their lives (assisted by Lilo, who, at only six years old, can hardly know any better), knowing that a flesh and blood governmental agent could pop up at any moment and tear the two sisters apart because of this furry blue tornado.
Thankfully, the actors portraying the sisters work well as a pair. Their bond helps sell the emotionality of the story that otherwise feels like an afterthought. Maia Kealoha is an adorable Lilo. She’s never grating, even when her character is overdue for a time-out. And Sydney Agudong has believable sibling chemistry with her. Billy Magnussen shows a knack for physical comedy in his role as the human disguise for the alien Pleakley. However, his onscreen partner, Zach Galifianakis, is oddly restrained and uncharacteristically uninteresting. It’s very odd to cast the actor as the “straight man” in a comic pairing.
So here we are again. Yet another uninspired Disney remake cynically created to mine the audience’s nostalgia for all its worth. As is seemingly always the case, this one seems destined to make some money, tumble onto Disney+, and be swiftly forgotten as it’s easily overshadowed by its far superior original.
