Lilo and Stitch (2025) Review & Summary

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“Lilo and Stitch” Film Details

• Runtime: 1 Hour(s) and 48 Minutes
• Released On: In Theaters
• Public Release Date: May 22, 2025
• Director(s): Dean Fleischer Camp
• Writer(s): Chris Kekaniokalani Bright, Mike Van Waes
• Based On Work By: Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois
• Genre(s): Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Young Adult, Youth
• Rating: Rated PG
• Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Summary

With their parents’ recent death, Nani has put her next chapter on hold, to become a marine biologist, to take care of her six-year-old sister Lilo. This is a struggle, for with barely being old enough to be Lilo’s guardian, it means having to manage the household bills, keep a job, and show up for Lilo in a way to not only make her feel seen and loved, but also monitored. For while Aunt Tutu next door does help watch Lilo, Nani doesn’t want to rely on her full-time, for Aunt Tutu does have a life of her own.

As for Lilo, while she knows Nani is trying, it is hard for her not to be frustrated. If Aunt Tutu isn’t watching her, she is often alone, and even before her parents died, she struggled to make friends, and now she is not only isolated for being seen as weird but also because she is the kid whose parents died. Enter Stitch, an alien who escaped his creator, Jumba, and is being hunted by Jumba and an Earth expert named Pleakley, on behalf of the Grand Councilwoman and an intergalactic order.

Stitch, who is adaptable, initially sees Lilo as a means to keep from being recaptured but as he becomes part of Lilo’s Ohana, the once irredeemable monster created by a madman becomes someone who wants to prove they are good and deserving of nice things.

Cast and Characters

Nani (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]

• Character Summary: When her parents were alive, Nani was on track to become a marine biologist and go to one of the top schools in the area, on a full-ride. However, once her parents died, Nani set aside her dreams to take care of Lilo, and as things got harder, we see her lose any sense of Ohana and seemingly commit to struggling for as long as she can.

Lilo (Maia Kealoha)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: Lilo is six, has no friends, and is having a hard time dealing with Nani going from her fun sister to Nani taking on the role of a mom.

Aunt Tutu (Amy Hill)

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• Character Summary: Aunt Tutu is Nani’s neighbor, assumingly David’s mother, who often watches Lilo for Nani when she can.

Stitch (Chris Sanders)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: Experiment 626, given the name Stitch, was originally supposed to be a formidable and destructive monster of massive intelligence. However, as it uses Lilo to avoid capture and violence from Jumba, it learns it is capable of more and it is worthy of being more than a potential weapon.

Pleakley (Billy Magnussen)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: Pleakley is an expert on Earth, perhaps the only thing that saved Earth from instant annihilation when Stitch escaped, but despite his credentials, he seems rather obtuse around Earthlings.

Jumba (Zach Galifianakis)

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• Character Summary: Jumba is a mad scientist whose unethical experiments got him caught and led to the universe’s discovery of Stitch’s existence.

Grand Councilwoman (Hannah Waddingham)

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• Character Summary: The Grand Councilwoman is the leader of the intergalactic federation who has a regal quality to her and while it seems she mainly operates on logic, she is willing to allow understandable emotions to sway her decisions.

Mrs. Kekoa (Tia Carrere)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: Mrs. Kekoa is Nani’s assigned social worker, who is sympathetic but firm regarding Nani’s capabilities of raising Lilo on her own.

Cobra Bubbles (Courtney B. Vance)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: Agent Cobra Bubbles is a CIA agent who specializes in alien interaction and gets involved in Lilo’s situation due to the abnormal activity Stitch brought to Hawaii.

David (Kaipo Dudoit)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: David is Nani’s next-door neighbor who has a crush on her that is obvious to everyone and whose feelings are secretly reciprocated by Nani.

Why Is “Lilo and Stitch” Rated PG?

• Dialog:
  • Cursing: None
  • Discriminatory Language: No
  • Innuendo: None
  • Suicide Mentions: Yes (In Lilo’s Overdramatic Fashion Once)
• Violence:
  • Gun Violence: Present (Through Jumba Trying To Shoot Tranquilizer Darts)
  • Violence Against Animals: No
  • Violence Against Children: No
  • Domestic Violence: No
  • Gore/ Blood: None
  • Body Horror: No
  • Notable Violence: Comedic Violence
• Sexual Content:
  • Nudity: None
  • Sexual Situations: None
  • Sexual Violence: No
• Miscellaneous:
  • Drinking: No
  • Drug Use: None
  • Vomiting: Yes/ No
  • Smoking: Yes/ No
  • Vermin: Insects/ Rodents/ Maggots

Links

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• Official Site Link

Review and Commentary

Highlight(s)

It’ll Make You Emotional [86/100]

While it could be submitted that the latest entry of the Lilo and Stitch franchise does tone down some of what the original animated version offered, it will still make you emotional. The film maintains the core issue of Nani struggling to raise Lilo, financially, having the capacity for Lilo’s moods and needs, while dealing with putting her life on hold for Lilo’s sake. And this time, with a full-on social worker named Mrs. Kekoa taking note of how empty the fridge is, and really making it clear Nani isn’t making ends meet, she is on borrowed time, the looming possibility of the State taking Lilo feels all the more real.

Add into that, while animated Lilo may have been darker, a bit more dramatic, and emotional, this doesn’t mean Maia Kealoha’s version is just a happy-go-lucky kid. There is still that sense of loneliness, feeling ostracized and quickly accepting Stitch not only for she thinks her parents sent him for her, but because she has no other options. Put this all together and if you are someone who can be fairly emotional, expect to shed tears.

On The Fence

Lilo Got A Bit Neutered [73/100]

I would submit that Lilo is pushed to be generically quirky and cute than someone who is genuinely weird, a bit dark, and maybe even depressed. For example, Lilo collecting pictures of tourists, partly for the sake of commentary, and making the tourists feel like outsiders, is completely removed. The full line from the animated movie regarding Ohana meaning family, specifically being forgotten, is removed, and certain scenes, like when Stitch leaves, and how Lilo remembers all who leave, are gone.

Is the film 100% worse off for not having Lilo be written and portrayed more like the animated counterpart? No. However, for those who have seen the animated film, maybe saw Lilo as autistic or refreshing compared to the majority of female leads in Disney movies, I’d submit a lot of what made her special is sanded away with only just enough left to still say that is Lilo on screen.

The Changes Are Hit And Miss [74/100]

Beyond Lilo, other changes can be hit or miss. Pleakley, for example, losing his drag getup makes him feel even more watered down than Lilo, but then there is Jumba. Rather than have it where the villain is Captain Gantu, Jumba is made into someone who can’t be trusted and is truly a mad scientist. Does Zach Galifianakis play this well? Eh. Between the trappings of this being a kids’ movie and Galifianakis vying to be seen as Jack Black’s alternate, it’s acceptable, but if he weren’t cast, you wouldn’t feel like you were missing anything.

Beyond those two, yes, I like them bringing in Mrs. Kekoa and Aunt Tutu, and even establishing that Nani had plans for her life and not just making it a throwaway thing about her on the path to being a professional surfer, but making it a consistent reminder that Nani not only wanted to be a marine biologist, but got accepted into a notable college with a full-ride.

But, in order to do that, David feels less notable, especially in his relationship with Nani. Nani is made to come off younger, to make it so, social services really have a need to monitor her, and then, when it comes to Cobra Bubbles? While Courtney B. Vance is a talented actor, he is yet another case of a character from the animated film being diminished in a way that can lead to a heavy sigh.

Heck, even in terms of Elvis playing a role – his music was played, but as for Lilo really making it clear she was a Elvis fan and fan girl over him? That really wasn’t the case. Thus further pushing the idea that, yes, this is Lilo and Stitch but in pursuit of bringing the characters to a new era, a lot of the charm and what made the original special was lost.

Overall

Our Rating (77/100): Mixed (Divisive)

Like the majority of Disney’s live-action movies, besides Maleficent, this remake feels unnecessary. Yes, it might be reintroducing Lilo and Stitch to a new generation, and with being partly filmed in Hawaii, it does uplift their local economy and talent. However, the point remains that Lilo and Stitch acts as a reminder of how watered down children’s entertainment has become over the years and when it comes to Disney, why, for the majority of their sequels and remakes, they generally feel more like cash grabs than Disney trying to do what wasn’t possible when the original came out.

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