Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Billy Magnussen, Hannah Waddingham, Chris Sanders, Courtney B. Vance, Zach Galifianakis, and Maia Kealoha
Movie Length: 1 hour 48 minutes
What is it: A live-action (with CGI) remake of 2002’s animated film Lilo & Stitch. While the movie is billed as a remake, there are a few changes made from the 2002’s version of the script.
What Dan thought: Great remake of the original movie (which is over 20 years old?!). From the opening scene until the end credits the movie was a great live action take on the original animated film, with just a few minor tweaks to that script. Disney has been hit and miss with live action takes on some of their animated classics, and this was a big time hit.
Bringing back Chris Sanders (who wrote/directed/voiced Stitch in the original) was a huge part of that I’m sure, and the other cast members including Maia Kealoha (making her film debut as Lilo), Sydney Elizebeth Agudong (Nani), Tia Carrere (who previously voiced Nani in the animated versions, as a social worker), Amy Hill (Tūtū, an original character to this movie), Zach Galifianakis (Dr. Jumba Jookiba), Billy Magnussen (Agent Wendell Pleakley) almost all of whom did great in their roles. The changes made to Jumba were significant and Zach’s portrayal was one of the downsides to the movie.
The visual effects that ILM created for the movie including Stitch and the aliens was top notch to the point it was tough to tell if Stitch was a puppet (like the main creature in The Legend of Ochi or computer generated).
The soundtrack featured all of the songs from the original animated feature including the Elvis’ songs from it (and there was a brief appearance of Stitch in an Elvis costume).
Dan’s grade: A. If you are a fan of the original animated movie, do yourself a favor and go see this one!
Lilo & Stitch is now in theaters.
Are you going to see the movie? Have you already? Feel free to leave a comment below or chat with us on Threads at @theconventioncollective, or Bluesky at @theconcollective.bsky.social
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