Film Review: LILO & STITCH (2025): Live-Action Disney Remake Has Heart, but Lacks an Interesting Plot

Lilo & Stitch Review

Lilo & Stitch (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, written by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes and starring Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong, Chris Sanders, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, Courtney B. Vance, Amy Hill, Tia Carrere, Kaipo Dudoit, Hannah Waddingham, Jason Scott Lee, Celia Kenney, Blake La Benz, Skyler Bible, Judy Nguyen, Chris Yeung, Courtney Coleman and Christina Souza.

Director Dean Fleischer Camp directs a sincere, live-action version of the animated film Lilo & Stitch from 2002. This is a humorous movie in spots as well as a touching one, but the plot is threadbare and almost non-existent which takes away from the film in terms of making it work successfully as a whole.

While the furry, bluish creature in the title known as Stitch is cute, he doesn’t get as much screen time as some viewers may have hoped which makes him feel somewhat underdeveloped. I know E.T. wasn’t developed much either, but the new Lilo & Stitch doesn’t give Stitch a lot of distinguishing characteristics and focuses too much on a couple of creatures from Stitch’s planet who are in hot pursuit of Stitch instead of focusing more on the bond between Stitch and Lilo, the girl who makes up the other half of the film’s title.

Maia Kealoha stars as Lilo, the young Hawaiian girl who lives with her older sister, Nani (Sydney Agudong). A woman named Mrs. Kekoa (Tia Carrere) from social services shows up to inspect their home and finds that Lilo’s situation needs to be improved. Mrs. Kekoa expects Nani to get insurance, get her past due bills paid and to basically clean up her act in order to keep Lilo living under the same roof. This is not the stuff of laugh-out-loud comedies, but Lilo & Stitch plays all this very lightly. If there was ever any doubt there’d be a happy ending here, you probably have never seen a film before.

Stitch (voice of Chris Sanders who keeps the character lively) arrives on Earth while two creatures from his planet take human form in an effort to seek Stitch out. There’s Jumba (Zach Galifianakis) and Pleakley (Billy Magnussen) who act wild and crazy in their new bodies which includes telling a concierge at a hotel they’re from Earth when asked for their addresses. Courtney B. Vance plays a special agent who is investigating the crash of the small space ship which Stitch arrived on Earth in. Vance is adequate in his role although his part has very little complexity to it as he makes a decision at the end which could only happen in a Disney family film.

This movie has a grueling first half which includes scenes that are over-the-top, but as Home Alone proved, destruction and nasty humor goes over well with kids and has for many years. So, when Stitch, who people believe is a dog, steals a small car to drive around in or squirts Lilo with a bar hose, however crass it may seem, kids will probably laugh. When the movie gets to the schmaltzy sentimental scenes in the last 20 minutes or so, it plays a bit better and has tender moments that could have worked better had Stitch been developed as more than a mischievous alien who has a change of heart when he realizes he has found a new family here on Earth.

Lilo acts rebellious as the script requires her to and Maia Kealoha has some pleasant moments playing her. Sydney Agudong, as Nani, wears a Purple Rain T-shirt as Nani tries to prevent social services from taking Lilo away from her. In what feels like a third act deus-ex-machina, everything comes together too cutesy to tell a predictable story of an alien and a little girl who end up forming a powerful friendship. This movie will most likely please fans of the original thanks to the formula it follows, though.

I was not a big fan of the older cartoon so I know this movie wasn’t made for me. It still has a few major flaws which even loyal Disney watchers may find frustrating. Agudong puts a lot of effort in. In terms of the way she creates her character, the actress is certainly not to be faulted for the film’s few disappointing aspects. Had the story line felt more urgent in a way where everything didn’t seem destined for happiness, the movie would have been stronger.

Galifianakis and Magnussen falter in their roles mainly because their goofy characters take away from the enjoyment of the interaction between the two main characters showcased in the film’s title. Though these two supporting roles may provide laughs for smaller children, the adults could find themselves bored by the movie’s overall goofy nature.

Though Stitch is underdeveloped and there are a lot of scenes that go too far (e.g. Stitch crashing a wedding when he first arrives on Earth), younger audiences may find themselves emotionally invested in this otherwise ordinary alien/human bonding family film. Lilo & Stitch needed more plot and less wild humor to work as a whole, but it has a built-in fan base which is probably lining up to see this movie as we speak.

Rating: 6/10

Leave your thoughts on this Lilo & Stitch review and the film below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more film reviews can visit our Movie Review Page, our Movie Review Twitter Page, and our Movie Review Facebook Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Mobile App, Google News, Feedly, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, Telegram, Mastodon, Flipboard, and Threads.