A six-year-old Hawaiian girl befriends an alien experiment that she mistakes for a dog in this live-action remake.
Disney’s live-action remake project continues with a reimagining of its beloved 2002 animation Lilo & Stitch.
For the uninitiated, this Hawaii-set tale follows Lilo (Maia Kealoha), a six-year-old girl who lives with her older sister Nani (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong) following the death of their parents.
Nani is struggling to keep a job, make ends meet and be a responsible parent at such a young age and it doesn’t help that Lilo is always acting out and getting into trouble.
To make matters worse, Lilo adopts an alien experiment that she mistakes for a dog and it causes chaos and destruction, which alarms the social services.
The film’s opening sequence is almost a beat-for-beat and line-for-line recreation of the original but thankfully that’s not the case the whole way through. There are still some scene recreations here and there but it mostly tries to avoid being a carbon copy.
For instance, some of the characters have been changed or updated. Cobra Bubbles – the secret agent and social services worker – has been split into two.
Courtney B. Vance portrays Bubbles as the agent, while the social services role goes to Tia Carrere (the original voice of Nani).
In addition, Agent Pleakley (Billy Magnussen) and Dr. Jumba (Zach Galifianakis) disguise themselves on Earth with human holograms. Making the aliens look human makes sense visually in a live-action film and it is much funnier seeing real actors carrying out the silly slapstick comedy moments.
This version focuses more on the sisters and their struggle to stay together as the social services analyse their situation. It’s a well-told and well-performed story but it takes centre stage over Stitch’s arc.
The adorable blue alien – who is once again voiced by original voice actor and director Chris Sanders – doesn’t get as many emotional beats as before.
One particularly moving scene from the original is not there and the powerful emotional scene near the end (which may bring you to tears) is a line-for-line repeat!
Not all of the decisions work but it’s still a fun family film starring an adorably precocious youngster (Kealoha is a brilliant discovery) and a misunderstood rascal. They are both hilarious and bring the most laughs alongside Magnussen.
Lilo & Stitch is one of the better Disney live-action remakes and it would have been as good as the original if it didn’t downgrade Stitch’s emotional arc.
In cinemas from Wednesday 21st May.
By Hannah Wales.
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