Lilo & Stitch

In theory, I should be pro-change... except that Lilo & Stitch doesn’t really commit to its big alterations.

Fleischer Camp brings a light touch and a good human cast to this reverently faithful effort, but it’s never as clear and bright as its source material.

The director Dean Fleischer Camp isn’t trying to recapture the arthouse audience who went for the sophisticated faux-naivety of his 2021 Marcel the Shell With Shoes On. But he does ground the whimsy in a baseline level of realism...

The simplistic script by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes finds the quickest way to get sympathy for its characters is by consistently putting them in peril. After a while, the trick feels manipulative.

[Kealoha's] work as Lilo is outstanding, and both she and an almost equally wonderful Agudong share an endearingly authentic chemistry that’s out of this world.

But for the most part, this remake is a charming film. Was it necessary? No, but how many movies are. However, you can’t be offended it exists, and it has plenty of emotional moments and raucous shenanigans.

A fun adaptation, but nowhere as good as the original cartoon.

It's easy - and occasionally appropriate - to be cynical about remakes. But this 2025 Lilo & Stitch stays true to the original, while bringing its own personality and strengths.

While in a vacuum, Lilo & Stitch is far from being the worst live-action remake, there is still no logical argument that could make for recommending someone spend their time or money seeking the film out.

Caught between some really bizarre changes and being too sacred about things that can change, Dean Fleischer Camp manages to squeeze in a few genuine moments of humanity, but they're few and far between.