Skip to main content

Lilo & Stich (2025)

Lilo & Stitch continues Disney’s ongoing mission to take their animated classics and turn them into live action versions and after the disaster of Snow White, Disney needed Lilo & Stitch. I must confess that I haven't seen the 2002 animated original so I wont be able to compare that to this new version. The set up is that Stitch (aka 626) manages to escape to earth and befriends Lilo (Maia Kealhoa) who lives with her sister Nani (Sydney Agudong) after their parents died (classic Disney) and she has a social worker (Tia Carrere) trying to help her get on her feet. Meanwhile Jumba (Zach Galifianakis) and Pleakley (Billy Magnussen) are tasked with tracking Stitch/626 down. 

The film works because of Maia Kealoha. Bearing in mind that she is only nine years old she has a personality of someone several years older. There is a cheeky chappy style to her performance in the early stages and the relationship between Lilo & Stitch is lovely to see. Sydney Agudong has a tough role because she has to sort of just be there to interact with Lilo. To be fair their relationship whilst not the best at the start does become heartwarming by the end of the film. Galifianakis and Magnussen are fine as the comedy duo that is the staple of every Disney film but it worked in the context of this film. Courtney B. Vance is very good as the brilliantly named Cobra Bubbles although his sudden change of heart did seem a bit odd to this grown up trying to pick holes in a film aimed at kids. He’s not terrible by any means but you could probably have cut his part out. Amy Hill almost stole the show as the neighbour Tutu. She was funny when she needed to be and was loyal and reliable towards the end. The fact that she ends up being the foster parent of Lilo would normally come across as eye rolling plot contrivance but in this film it worked and I went along with it. 

I will admit that I did find the moment where Stitch is on the seafloor and there is a chance he could die quite emotional. It shows how much the film was working that I even had that reaction.

It is worth pointing out that bearing in mind I saw this 3 and a half weeks after it was released in the UK and it was around lunchtime on a Saturday, there was a decent number of people in it. Another thing worth pointing out is that the children were very well behaved. I have been in screenings where adults have made more noise so it was nice to see them paying attention and respect to the film.

Considering that this film was not aimed at a 42 bloke, I really enjoyed Lilo & Stitch. All the negative things that I have pointed out are classic nitpicking things. It is a film aimed at kids and it certainly worked. Still don't know what they have changed compared to the original but this shows the people involved with making Snow White that this is how you make a fun and enjoyable remake.  

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

I really enjoyed the first Jurassic World film, yes some of the things were a bit silly and it was a bit of fan service but I still enjoyed it and thought it worked quite well. The second one took a bit of a dip in quality and the whole idea that there is a secret lab underneath a massive house did seem a bit silly. It did end with a cliffhanger and the potential for this final could have been about how we were dealing with the dinosaurs. This final part of the trilogy (whether it's the final Jurassic film is doubtful) was delayed because of the pandemic although how much of that is why this film was a huge disappointment is probably going to remain a mystery. The main problem with the film is that it feels like three movies in one. You have the Claire/Owen storyline then there is the original trio’s storyline with the return of Dodgson and then the meshing of the two. This means that it feels like they are throwing a lot at the wall to see what sticks. Dodgson is portrayed as some...
Post a Comment
Read more

Elio (2025)

Elio is a film that seemed like it could be a lot of fun based off the trailer which is a mistake as a trailer has more often than not made a film to look better than it is. The trailer didn’t suggest that Elio had lost his parents (deceased parents is such a typical Disney move) and he now lives with his aunt who works on an air force base. He gets interested in space and then wants to be abducted by aliens and gets his wish and ends up in the communiverse with a variety of different aliens. This includes a warmongering Lord Grigon. Elio is mistakenly thought of as the leader of Earth and soon finds himself trying to broker a peace with Grigon. In the middle of all this He makes friends with Glordon who is the son of Lord Grigon. Elio plans to use Glordon as a bargaining chip and when he comes to pick up fortis then things go wrong and that is when the plot really kicks in. The animation is your typical Pixar sort and it’s nice and can work in any type of story. It’s weird to think th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hallow Road (2025)

Hallow Road stars Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys who are Maddie and Frank who are woken up in the middle of the night by their daughter Alice (Megan McDonnell) who has been in an accident and the movie is basically Maddie and Frank driving to the location talking to their daughter and it all takes place in the car.  The film is basically led by Pike and Rhys. Maddie wants to call the police and use a sympathetic police officer to help their daughter and yet Frank wants to take the blame and this leads to conflict between the two. One of the reasons why the film works in the way that it does is that these two work well together despite their characters being polar opposite. The fact that the film takes place inside the car apart from the opening couple of minutes and the final few minutes and still manages to be entertaining and gripping shows how good the performances were and also the writing. Credit has to go to director Batak Anvari for keeping things ticking along and never le...
Post a Comment
Read more