Exploring the Magic of Lilo and Stitch (2025): Another Disney Live Action Remake

Stitch, an extraterrestrial fugitive, heads straight to planet Earth after he escapes prison. The intelligent alien impersonates as a dog so a young Lilo will adopt him and protect him from his fellow aliens, who are hunting him down. 

With the list of Disney live action remakes and adaptations ever growing, it was only a matter of time before we saw one of their greatest animated classics brought to screen once again. Lilo and Stitch (2002), a beloved Hawaiian adventure of a misunderstood alien who befriends a lonely girl was released 23 years ago and has touched the hearts of many, myself included. Lilo and Stitch was my favourite Disney feature growing up and to say I was nervous or even resentful of this live action remake would be an understatement but I finally forced myself to the cinema and I can honestly say, I was pleasantly surprised. 

Similar to Disney’s sea of live action features, Lilo & Stitch (2025) is mostly unchanged and tells an almost exact re-telling of the classic found family narrative. Those who remember the original will notice some minor changes but overall, this live-action is a shot for shot remake. Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp who brought us the adorable A24 feature Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021), this adaption is hard not to love. 

This film could never be bad, it is based on one of Disney’s all-time best animated features. The story, its characters and the core meaning are beautiful, heart warming and meaningful - that has not changed. Lilo & Stitch (2025) injects new life into a classic feature, for a new generation of fans to fall in love with this story and the bond between a girl and her friend. 

Introducing the loveable Maia Kealoha as Lilo, she was adorable, cheeky and embodied the essence of Lilo in every scene. The characters are the core to this story, their complicated relationships and tragic backstory give them grit and relatability. Lilo was always an outcast Disney character, she was never perfect, she was naughty and she was misunderstood, that is why I loved her. Maia Kealoha brought all these elements of Lilo to life, she was perfect in the role and I have no doubt this will be the beginning of an exciting career for her. 

Zach Galifianakis was the only performance which felt lacklustre to me, his performance as Jumba was forgettable and in comparison to the animated feature, it was poor. David Ogden Stiers gave us a distinct character voice in the 2002 classic, Galifianakis played himself and added nothing to the role. 

Pleakley is a fan favourite character, his campy, hysterical personality is truly hilarious in the animated classic. Billy Magnussen did a great job at reinventing the character in the live action version. His voice didn’t come close to Kevin McDonald but his physicality and comedic moments were fun to watch. 

Sydney Agudong played Nani beautifully, she was a stern older sister with emotional layers and moments of genuine humour. It was really special to see Tia Carrere come back in the role of the social worker alongside Agudong, although her role was minor she was memorable and sweet. 

Stitch, I have no complaints because of course he was voiced by Chris Sanders - who is Stitch. Nobody else could have brought this 2025 version of Stitch to life.

Also, Hannah Waddingham as the Grand Councilwoman… she sounded exactly like the original voice actress. I was incredibly pleased with that casting. 

Overall, the whole cast brought their characters to life in a new way (some better than others) but I mostly have little complaints or faults with any of the performances. 

Lilo & Stitch (2025) is a bold reimagining, with a lovable cast and well constructed CGI. I genuinely enjoyed this live action remake and I can confidently say it has been my favourite of the adaptations to date but this is most likely because it was a recycling of my favourite Disney feature. The moments which were adapted for this version were well written and felt natural to this re-telling of Lilo & Stitch, the films conclusion was realistic and it felt like everyone got their perfect ending. 

I am not a fan of Disney’s live-action remake agenda and that will never change but I will say, Lilo & Stitch was full of life, laughter and beauty.   

Probe Points

★★★★☆

…

Although, I do believe going forward Disney needs to reconstruct their animated classics or stop the adaptations all together. Seeing their classics stories retold can be exciting for new audiences but Disney need not forget their audience span larger than children and more often than not we want new stories. The classics are classics for a reason and relying on recycling them doesn’t always pay off, give us spin-offs, give us character backstories - try to reimagine the classics in a fresh way. 

We don’t want a Tangled remake, we want the backstory of Flynn Ryder. We don’t want you to recycle our favourite films - we want you to reinvent them and bring us something unexpected and beautiful. Take the classic characters we love and position them in a new story, a new adventure, something we haven’t seen before. Don’t give us a live action remake of Princess and the Frog, give us a villain story of Dr. Facilier. 

Disney, you have the loyal fans - I am one of them. Use the beautiful characters and stories you’ve built to bring us an expansion of those stories. Stop retelling the same plots, please give us something new within the worlds you have created.