Lilo & Stitch

If you are expecting a carbon copy of the animated version, you will be disappointed. The story has been changed, characters removed, not many laughs and too much focus on the human characters.

Stitch had some cute moments but they were few and far between.

The key introduction to a new neighbour was an added touch but I do feel that this was needed as the film did drag on. At 1 hour 45 mins, this could easily have been reduced to a 90 min movie.

This could have been so much better and this had high potential but sadly fails.

Was an okay watch for a rainy day but wouldn't rush to watch again.

You know, I use to love seeing Disney flicks because they were filled with great story, well developed characters and a magic that filled me with a sense of childlike wonder - this redo totally lacked all of that - thanks again Disney for nearly ruining another memorable movie for me. But alas...

Even though this movie left me feeling no real sense of that once upon a time magic - I'll never give up on one day seeing a return to wonderful movies filled with all those things. I'm a writer, and I love telling stories filled with all the things I spoke of - and one day, I will see that yet again.

Lilo & Stitch suffers from all the usual problems that make these Disney live action remakes so much worse than the animated originals they attempt to adapt. The film is noticeably longer for no reason thanks to its unnecessary need to add new characters who bring nothing and almost all of its changes do more damage than good. However, it mostly retains the heart of its predecessor and still contains some good laughs so it can comfortably avoid being the worst remake.

Maia Kealoha is a suitably adorable Lilo and Chris Sanders is obviously a great Stitch, who remains the best part. Sydney Agudong is a good Nani but pretty much everyone else is so bland and Courtney B. Vance's Cobra Bubbles is especially screwed over by the changes to his character. Zach Galifianakis & Billy Magnussen as Jumba & Pleakley are a colossal step down in comparison to the original duo and their alien forms are now extremely uncanny.

Dean Fleischer Camp's direction gets the job done in the standard issue authorless fashion. All the technical issues stem from the near total lack of energy which comes from the misguided idea to (kinda) faithfully adapt a film that wasn't even remotely made with live action sensibilities in mind. The uniqueness has gone and it's replaced by something that generally feels a lot more generic. At least the CGI for Stitch is good enough because it would've been unwatchable if it wasn't.

So gonna make this with no spoilers

I really wanted to like this, but the remake just misses what made the original Lilo & Stitch so special.

One of the biggest issues? They completely lost the heart of the story. The original was about found family, feeling like an outsider, and growing into love and understanding. This version just kind of glosses over all that. They cut out some important characters who brought depth, and the new ones they added didn't move the plot forward at all-they felt like filler.

And then there's Lilo. In the original, her behavior came from trauma, misunderstanding, or just being a kid who felt deeply and didn't know how to express it. Here, it feels like they made her act out just to be bad. It wasn't quirky or endearing-it was out of character and kind of mean-spirited.

What really stings is the lack of emotional growth. The original gave us real redemption arcs and character development. Here, it's like everyone stays the same the whole movie. No payoff, no evolution.

Visually it's fine, and I'm sure some people might enjoy it on a surface level. But for fans who connected with the original's heart? This just feels hollow.

The girl who played Lilo was a great fit to play the mischievous lilo. They put lots of Elvis music and traditional Hawaiian music in it which I enjoyed. The aliens and stitch were funny. The Hawaiian scenery was beautiful.

Cons - They did nani dirty. She's too mean and dismissive to David and lilo. She doesn't even take lilo to get stitch which was a pretty important scene. They are side characters that don't add anything positive to the movie that get too much screen time. Gantu the shark was not in the movie .They should have got terry crews or the rock to play Cobra bubbles. The guy they had just stood there looking constipated and scowled.

I laughed a lot I got a break from life for a while and I got to wear my stitch shirt. The bus full of happy kids and the two older couples with their stitch bucket cups seem to be having a great time.