They say comparison is the thief of joy, so why does Disney insist on making lesser live-action versions of their animated classics to make us suffer through?
Oh, right, the money. And where Snow White flopped, Lilo & Stitch is about to rake in money hand over fist with a huge Memorial Day opening weekend of possibly $165 million or more on a relatively restrained $100 million budget.
A huge portion of that budget went into making sure that the 3D version of everyone’s favorite fuzzy blue alien looks just right—and mercifully everything about Stitch in this live-action reboot is pretty much flawless. He doesn’t talk quite as much and it seems like he maybe has less screen time (probably due to the budget) but Chris Sanders returns to provide the voice and the translation of the star is genuinely the treat of the film.
Maia Kealoha does her absolute best to fill in the big shoes of Lilo and is adorable while bringing some of Lilo’s mischievous streak to the big screen. However, no child actor could be expected to deliver the absolute gold of the animated Lilo’s delivery. I found myself disappointed at times when the movie attempted to recreate some of my favorite moments, such as “Pudge controls the weather,” which falls flat in part due to the delivery and in part due to the direction of the scene.
The true standout of the film is Sydney Agudong as Nani, who I thought gave a really emotionally tuned-in performance that is true to the character without trying to strictly replicate the mannerisms of the animated version. Billy Magnussen also does a great job of conveying Pleakley in human form, as the filmmakers chose to use cloning technology to save money on CGI and make Jumba and Pleakley blending in among the humans more believable.
Oh boy, did I not like Zach Galifianakis as Jumba, who has absorbed the role of Gantu in this version of the story, likely to cut down on CGI costs. He’s not wacky and zany like the original mad scientist, there’s no accent—it just doesn’t work at all. He only occasionally finds a nice moment with Magnussen.
Cobra Bubbles is no longer the social worker, but a CIA agent brought in to capture Stitch, who then poses as a social worker. I understand the change, but it just doesn’t really work, and Cobra is not nearly as fun of a character here. David gets reduced screen time in favor of a new character, David’s mom, who is generally enjoyable.
Pretty much every story adaptation made to translate the animated classic to live-action is for the worse. Only two brief moments radiated with the energy of the original for me. It is somehow 20 minutes longer than the original, yet cuts out some of the most fun scenes or elements from the original.
I imagine most casual audiences will be swayed enough by the cuteness of the titular characters and nods to the classic to happily bop along with this remake. But there’s little to no reason to ever choose to spend 105 minutes watching the remake when you could instead spend 85 minutes watching the stone-cold classic. So, if anyone asks if I’d like to watch the live-action instead of the original, I’ll be telling them, “Oh, ha … nah.”
