Lilo & Stitch ★★1/2

Availability: Showing widely in theaters in the United States and internationally. Expected streaming on Disney+ in August or September—about 3 months after theatrical release. For future full streaming and rent and purchase options, see JustWatch here.

Nobody Gets Left Behind

“Lilo & Stitch” conveniently takes the well-worn story of the cyborg who learns human emotions and pairs it with the making of an emotionally constituted—if not blood-related—family. While not an innovative and engrossing take on these themes, the alien-as-plush-toy with teeth and the cute Hawaiian girl team up for a modestly entertaining film, especially for the younger set.

The cuteness factor is set to high with both Lilo (8-year-old Maia Kealoha, right)

and alien-as-toy Stitch.

Live-action animation, a product of sophisticated computer technology, offers the best of 2 worlds—a real person with whom one can identify and an adorable toy come to life. Six-year-old Lilo (a charming Maia Kealoha, who turned 8 this past December) and alien Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders, who co-directed and co-wrote the original animated film) are high on the cuteness scale, while not lacking in mischievousness. Lilo is a well-known troublemaker, in school, at home, and especially in her hula classes. Stitch is an experiment gone wrong on his alien planet (shades of Dr. Jekyll), who is propelled to Earth to an anticipated drowning on that “watery planet”—he will gain molecular weight in water, we are told. Instead, he lands on a small Hawaiian island and crashes through a wedding party, devouring food and especially cake, leaving destruction in his wake.

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The simplistic, psychobabble theme of “good people sometimes do bad things” is set up in early scenes featuring both Lilo and Stitch.

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The simplistic, psychobabble theme of “good people sometimes do bad things” is set up in early scenes featuring both Lilo and Stitch.

Lilo's 12-years-older sister Nani (Sydney Agudong), right, is hapless at managing her mischievous sister even before the destructive Stitch comes on the scene.

Dr. Jumba, the scientist who created the experiment-gone-wrong Stitch,

is one of the toothsome little alien's pursuers on earth. Voiced by,

and played as a human by Zach Galifianakis, he provides

much of the comedy in the film.

Comedy arrives in the overly extended chaos that Stitch fosters, then mainly in the live-action antics of 2 home-planet alien pursuers of Stitch—Pleakley (Billy Magnussen) and Jumba (Zach Galifianakis)—as they try on the human forms that strike them as so bizarre. Galifianakis is particularly adept at portraying the alien who tries to move and talk like a human (“I’d like a room with a hot tube”).

The crux of the plot is the threat by Social Services (the dreaded “Government,” embodied by 2 ineffective characters) to put Lilo, who has been orphaned (the script doesn’t dwell on that) in foster care. Her 12-years-older sister Nani (Sydney Agudong) is hapless at juggling the care of a 6-year-old with earning money at various temp jobs (waitress, hotel room cleaner).

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 “I’d like a room with a hot tube."

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The theme of creating a new family has been done better (the serious foreign dramas “Shoplifters” [2018] and “Housekeeping for Beginners” [2023] are 2 of many), but like much else in “Lilo & Stitch,” it plays out well enough here. “Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind,” articulates the emotionally savvy Lilo.

No one told Stitch the final rose

wasn't something you picked up

in your mouth full of teeth after

destroying a wedding banquet.

To the filmmakers’ credit (one of the co-writers is Chris Kekaniokalani Bright), the setting, actors, and plot are effectively Hawaiian, both in accent and values (community, anti-authority, cultural history), and the scary scenes few and far between—although the sudden reversion of Jumba from cloned human to ugly alien caused our 8-year-old granddaughter to throw all her popcorn on the floor as she dived beneath her seat. “It will be better next time when I know what’s coming,” she later explained.

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Cute as it is, “Lilo & Stitch” is just okay, as in Obama’s notable debate remark, “you’re likeable enough, Hillary.”

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Cute as it is, culturally appropriate as it is, thematically conscientious as it is, sporting comedy as it does, “Lilo & Stitch” is just okay, as in Obama’s notable debate remark, “you’re likeable enough, Hillary.”  From Oscar-nominated director Dean Fleischer Camp (“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” [2021]), this remake has been a blockbuster for Disney (the biggest Memorial Day weekend film in history with $340 million worldwide box office), a success that’s been difficult to explain, given most critics find it merely adequate. Some credit Disney’s marketing, others the timing: it’s been 23 years since the animated film, and parents who saw the 2002 original now can take their children, giving the box office a two-generation target.

Stitch looks super-cute with his water wings, on the board

with Nani (Agudong, left) and Lilo (Kealoha, middle).

But would a creature who gains molecular weight in water

chance this? The plot must go on.

The kids will enjoy the newly formed family, the antics of trouble-makers Lilo and Stitch, the toothsome alien-as-toy/buddy, and especially the happy ending. Adults will find it all a bit tedious.

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She says: Some viewers have compared the live-action unfavorably to the 2002 animation, which was reasonably well-received. Since we didn’t see the original, the 2025 version was fresh for us, and cute enough.

He says: Too much chaos can be irritating rather than funny. And there is no way that Stitch, given his problem with water, would be on a surfboard.

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Date: 2025

Director: Dean Fleischer Camp

Starring: Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders, Sydney Agudong, Billy Magnussen, Zach Galifianakis

Country: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 108 minutes

Other Awards: None to date