LILO & STITCH
(director: Dean Fleischer Camp; screenwriters: Chris Kekanjokalani, Mike Van Waes, based on the animated film ‘Lilo & Stitch’ by Chris Sanders & Dean CeBlois; cinematographer: Nigel Bluck; editors: Phillip J. Bartell, Adam Gerstel; music: Dan Romer; cast: Mala Kealoh (Lilo), Chris Sanders (Stitch), Zach Galifianakis (Jumba), Sydney Elizabeth Aqudong (Nani), Billy Magnussen (Pleakley), Courtney B. Vance (Cobra Bubbles), Amy Hill (Tutu), Tia Carrere (Mrs. Kekoa), Kaipo Dudoit (David), Hannah Waddingham (voice-Grand Councilwoman), Jason Scott Lee (Lu’ah Manager), Celia Kenney (AJ), Skyler Bible (Agent Foster), Judy Nguyen (Agent Hyunh), Christian Yeung (Agent Zhao); Runtime: 108; MPAA Rating: PG; producer: Jonathan Eirich; Rideback/Walt Disney Pictures; 2025)
“Does a good job depicting the Hawaiian culture.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Dean Fleischer Camp (“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On”/”Fraud”) directs this live-action remake of the 2002 animated film ‘Lilo & Stitch’ by Chris Sanders & Dean CeBlois. It’s written by Chris Kekanjokalani and Mike Van Waes. It follows mostly the same story as the animated one, with only slight changes.
In Hawaii, the 6-year-old orphan Lilo (Mala Kealoh) lives with her orphan guardian 18-year-old sister Nani (Sydney Elizabeth Aqudong). When a space alien from the fictional Planet Turo crash lands near her home and turns itself into a dog, Lilo adopts it as a pet not knowing it’s an alien. The 3D destructive CGI creation is the lovable alien called Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders). He is being searched for by the quite amusing nerdy outer-space official Pleakley (Billy Magnussen) and Stitch’s mad scientist creator Jumba (Zach Galifianakis), who wish to bring Stitch back to captivity.
The film does a good job depicting the Hawaiian culture and its close-knit community. Also in making Stitch the central force in this cartoonish slapstick pic. Its breezy story is a tender one, though its slapstick comedy sometimes is not funny. Mala Kealoh in her screen debut shines, as does her also Hawaiian native co-star Sydney Elizabeth Aqudong. The Nani character is fully fleshed-out, as she staves off the social service officials who want to remove her from being a guardian unless she gets a higher paying job.
The soundtrack is filled with Elvis songs.
REVIEWED ON 5/24/2025 GRADE: B-
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