I’m not particularly precious about the original animated Lilo & Stich. It’s fine, it’s cute, and it has some heart. So a live action remake seemed fine by me. The idea didn’t offend me or make me shake my tiny fists at the Disney Gods. It might even make sense as a way to get the franchise back in the limelight.

And… yeah… it’s fine. I’m rating it lower than the animated film for some big mistakes in adaptation though. Again, I’m not in love with the original so cutting some scenes and even having less Stitch didn’t bug me. And adding character growth for helped.

What bugged me right out the gate was the sci-fi angle. It opens in the same way as the original with the galactic federation and the “trial” of Stitch. If there’s any point to a live action remake, is to be live action… and these creatures are all CGI of course, but they LOOK like cartoons. There was no effort to make them photoreal. So is this “live action” or not?

On top of that, the pacing of their scenes feels very animated… the original film is so short, they quick cut their way through these scenes and the new one does too. It doesn’t FEEL like a live action film when they are involved.

But what about Earth? Well, I think the Lilo and Nani stuff is so good they might as well just have made them the movie. Cut out the weird looking “dog” and all that. Especially because A) they cut or change a lot of Stitch, and B) they gave Nani a character arc outside of her love for her little sis. Yeah, I actually was rooting for Nani… all while finding the little girl playing Lilo adorable.

But we still have to stitch (ha! I kill me) the alien stuff into the movie. Stitch and the little girl are fine. Sure. The two alien scientists are smartly turned into humans since there’s no way a live action film could work if they just wore sunhats. I’m not sure they add anything to the movie though, probably even less than in the animated film.

I’m kind of mixed… and think it’d have been a better movie about two native Hawaiian sisters just trying to make a life on their own. But, sure, add the marketing opportunities with Stitch… he’s what people came for, I suppose.

Score: 77