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Walk into any Disney theme park and you won’t go long before seeing the face of Stitch, the rambunctiously charming, big-eared, koala-like blue creature from 2002’s “Lilo & Stitch.” Apart from a few select princesses and Mickey himself, Stitch has become one of the studio’s hugest moneymakers — and it’s easy to see why.
Aside from his cuddlable design and Chris Sanders’ endearingly growly vocalization, Stitch evolves from a mischievous agent of chaos to a protective quasi-sibling to young Lilo, all while introducing us to the Hawaiian concept of family, or ohana.
The original animated “Lilo & Stitch” made just $273 million when it premiered in theaters in 2002. But Stitch’s popularity has lived on for years, propelling merchandise sales and a new live-action movie.
That the animated anarchic alien would eventually get the live-action remake treatment was inevitable. But as with all of Disney’s attempts at revamping its animated classics, the 2025 version, directed by the talented Dean Fleischer Camp (“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”), is inherently susceptible to endless comparisons. That’s particularly true of sequences like the opening in which Stitch is exiled to Earth or on a surfing outing that are almost shot-for-shot copies, which makes the overall point here somewhat lost.
Not surprisingly, the marvelous original comes out on top because its characters, its interpretation of our world and its humor were envisioned for animation, a medium that operates by different narrative rules: where everything is more eye-catchingly colorful, the protagonists more playful and where emotions are more pointedly drawn. Reality doesn’t interfere.
The new iteration, from a screenplay by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes, similarly follows Lilo (Maia Kealoha), a 6-year-old Hawaiian girl whose quirkiness ostracizes her from other children her age. In Stitch, whom she initially believes to be a bizarre-looking dog, she finds a companion who, like her, has been deemed innately bad.
The season looks strong, loaded with the kind of big Hollywood swings, smart indie alternatives and a fair amount of delicious-looking dumb, necessary in every summer diet.
A disarming child star, Kealoha lands some of the precocious exasperation that made the animated Lilo such a distinct lead. Her fickle relationship with her older sister, Nani (Sydney Agudong), who became her guardian after their parents’ deaths, remains the movie’s emotional center, even if often burdened with the heavy-handed sentimentality typical of made-for-TV Disney film projects.
The new version distinguishes itself from the original by expanding on some poignant Hawaiian philosophies via two new characters: Tutu (Amy Hill), Lilo’s nurturing neighbor, and Mrs. Kekoa (Tia Carrere, a nice inclusion since she voiced Nani in the original), a caring social worker. Notable too is the casting of Hawaiian actors to play Lilo, Nani and the latter’s romantic interest, David (Kaipo Dudoit).
Having the most fun on screen is Billy Magnussen as Pleakley, a quaint extraterrestrial obsessed with Earth, tasked with retrieving Stitch and watching over Jumba (Zach Galifianakis), Stitch’s creator and the tale’s antagonist. Both characters appear mostly in human form. The stakes are also higher in the third act because of a life-risking incident and Nani’s career aspirations, while the new movie downplays Stitch’s adoration for Elvis Presley, though his songs are present.
Conceived with state-of-the-art CGI, the digital Stitch preserves the creature’s moxie thanks to hyper-realistic fur and Sanders’ signature voice performance. He’s played his own creation for over two decades.
Yet after watching this year’s “The Legend of Ochi,” also about a young girl befriending a ferociously adorable creature, in which impressive animatronic puppets were used, one can’t help but wonder how a mix of tangible and modern techniques would have enriched this new take on Stitch. At least it might have felt closer to what Fleischer Camp achieved with his Oscar-nominated “Marcel the Shell,” in which humans wondrously appear to interact with stop-motion figures.
Ultimately, what’s most missed in 2025’s “Lilo & Stitch” is the tonal edge of its predecessor in the form of unexpectedly biting comedy and even tacit comments on tourism in Hawaii. (A recurring gag of a white, overweight, sunburnt visitor dropping his ice cream makes the cut, but it’s been sanitized.) Nani still works at places that cater to tourists, but no opinions are expressed on the matter. When a 2002 animated feature aimed at children can contain more subtly subversive touches than a replica made more than 20 years later, it’s concerning.
Less vibrant and proficiently pleasant, the new “Lilo & Stitch” only serves as a reminder to revisit the superior hand-drawn version.
'Lilo & Stitch'
Rated: PG, for action, peril and thematic elements
Running time: 1 hour, 48 minutes
Playing: In wide release Friday, May 23
