The quiet miracle of 2002’s Lilo & Stitch was that it arrived at a tough time for Walt Disney Animation. The beautifully hand-drawn film about a lonely but unruly Hawaiian girl and her wildly unruly extraterrestrial friend, was so far and away different from the “Disney princess/fairy tale” formula that audiences immediately took to it. They saw Stitch as a sort of new age mascot, the anti-Mickey Mouse, and the film was a gigantic, wholly original box office smash that launched a multimedia universe. And now, more than two decades later, it’s just another movie for Disney to remake in live-action. *shrug*
There’s not much that’s truly awful about the new Lilo & Stitch movie. It’s aggressively fine. Most of the same laughs are there, and the story retains a good deal of its heart. If anything lacks in the transition from animation to live-action, it’s that Stitch is less endearingly unpredictable in this way. Especially early on in the film when he’s little more than a destructive force of nature causing ruin for 6-year-old Lilo (Maia Kealoha) and her older sister Nani (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong) who are struggling to stay together following their parents’ deaths. Technically, he’s a pretty good CG creation of blue fur (perhaps more furry than anticipated), big slobbery mouth, and erratic behavior. There have been worse CG recreations, after all. Remember that first look at Sonic the Hedgehog? I like that Stitch resembles a mix of Mickey Mouse, a Smurf, and the Tasmanian Devil. Or like a blue koala that’s been shocked back to life.
The story still holds up, with director Dean Fleischer Camp (of the lovable Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) not doing much to color outside the lines of the original story created by Chris Sanders (also the voice of Stitch in both movies) and Dean DeBlois of How to Train Your Dragon fame. Screenwriters Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes flesh out some of the supporting characters, such as Tia Carrere’s social worker Mrs. Kekoa, and the bumbling alien duo Dr. Jumba Jookiba and Earth-loving Agent Pleakley, played like walking/talking Looney Tunes cartoons by Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen. Hannah Waddingham, in her second movie of the week with Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning, voices the regal Grand Councilwoman who wants Stitch aka Experiment 626, captured and returned home.
There’s no real sense of danger, as Lilo & Stitch is played for laughs and comfortable, warm-hearted feels. That’s fine because Lilo seems aged down to appeal to a certain audience who would be receptive to that. The emphasis never strays too far from the idea of family, or “ohana”, and Lilo & Stitch is wise to keep coming back to it. The original is beloved for a reason, and most of what worked then still does. This newer version owes everything to what came before, and while it would’ve been great to see a more adventurous take, at least it doesn’t break everything in its path…even if Stich would’ve appreciated that.
Lilo & Stitch hits theaters on May 23rd.
