The Disney remake machine is an insatiable beast that will ultimately consume every one of the studio’s animated classics and regurgitate it as a live-action copy.
While such efforts have to date been uneven (to say the least), the fact remains that, in aiming for rigid fidelity over novel flights of fancy, they are doomed, by definition, to be no better than pale imitations of their superior forefathers.
Driven by a desire to duplicate rather than innovate, they’re projects whose motivation isn’t artistic but financial. Even in that regard, though, their shelf life is reasonably limited, since once their theatrical bows are finished, they’re fated to always be the second choice of moviegoers interested in revisiting their tales.
Lilo & Stitch, the Mouse House’s latest do-over, does even less updating to its template than most of its predecessors, and that lack of tinkering results in more consistent success. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On director Dean Fleischer Camp‘s film, out May 23, is exceedingly similar to its 2002 source material, and the small tweaks it does make are either cute or logistical, designed to facilitate the transition from the cartoon to the “real” world.
There’s virtually nothing new here, and that means it’ll never be remembered as fondly (or rewatched as often) as Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois’ beloved hand-drawn original. Still, it’s jovial, zany, and sweet, and it recreates its adorable title alien via CGI (and a Sanders voice performance) with pitch-perfect accuracy.
Following the narrative structure of its ancestor, Lilo & Stitch moves fast through its set-up, in which an intergalactic extraterrestrial tribunal led by the Grand Councilwoman (Hannah Waddingham) weighs in on a case involving mad scientist Dr. Jumba Jookiba (Zach Galifianakis), who’s undertaken an “illegal genetic experimentation.” The result, dubbed “626,” is a big-eyed blue-and-white creature that has giant floppy ears, four arms, a gargantuan mouth full of teeth, and spikes along its hairy back.
According to its maker, it’s unstoppable, indestructible, and smarter than 100 supercomputers. It’s also “naughty,” and the Grand Councilwoman’s inability to find something “good” in the little guy causes her to sentence him to exile. In response, he escapes captivity, steals a ship, and plots a hyper-speed course for Earth—a world that’s not particularly hospitable to him, considering that it’s covered in water and his tremendous body density means he can’t swim.
Crash-landing on Hawaii, the rambunctious 626 gets run over by a car and winds up in a dog kennel, where he’s adopted by Lilo (newcomer Maia Kealoha), who later names him Stitch. A six-year-old whose nasty peers view her as weird, Lilo sees Stitch’s UFO flying through the air and, believing it to be a shooting star, wishes for a best friend. Stitch is destined to be just that, and in the aftermath of Lilo adopting him—to plentiful stares from everyone, who view him as the ugliest canine ever—he behaves like the baddest pooch on the planet.
Since Lilo is a born troublemaker, this means they get along fantastically. Stitch’s unruliness is received less warmly by Lilo’s grown sister Nani (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong), who’s her caretaker (their parents have recently died in an unspecified accident) and is trying to maintain her guardianship by fending off watchful social worker Mrs. Kekoa (Tia Carrere).
Into this mix, Lilo & Stitch adds Nani’s would-be suitor David (Kaipo Dudoit) and his grandmother Tūtū (Amy Hill), who live next door; CIA agent Cobra Bubbles (Courtney B. Vance), who’s hot on the trail of the rogue monster; and Jookiba and Agent Pleakley (Billy Magnussen), who are sent to Earth to retrieve the wayward Stitch.
Because the long, slender Pleakley has one eye and the rotund Jookiba has numerous ones, they assume the physical form of two strangers (Galifianakis and Magnussen), which makes sense under the circumstances but nonetheless eliminates the prior film’s aliens-in-human-dress-up humor. Likewise, while Jookiba and Pleakley look right, they’re less visually elastic and fluid as their 2D forefathers—a situation that contributes to a generally tamer atmosphere, no matter that the action is cheery and zippy.
The majority of Lilo & Stitch is consumed with Stitch wreaking havoc, getting himself and Lilo into trouble with Nani, and learning that “Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.” The parentless Stitch finds a new clan and the still-grieving Lilo and Nani overcome adversities—including potential separation—to rebuild anew, and all of it plays out in precisely the fashion viewers recall, give or take a few gags and additional figures that, in the final tally, don’t change a meaningful thing.
Camp stages everything cleanly and boisterously, capturing the sunshiny spirit of Hawaii and its inhabitants, and except for a couple of eyeline-related moments, his integration of CGI characters into his live-action environments is smooth.
Lilo & Stitch is unimaginative, yet it’s a solid rehash. A good bit of that is due to the mischievous Stitch, who remains a growling, gibberish-spouting “cute and fluffy” whatsit.
Equally responsible for its charm are Kealoha and Agudong, who make an endearing pair as the orphaned sisters. With attitude to spare, Kealoha is amusing and lovable, and Agudong has more than enough screen presence to keep the film’s plot machinations from becoming a superfluous drag. Unfortunately, most of their costars are left behind by the whirlwind proceedings; courtesy of a script that treats every non-lead as a device, Galifianakis, Magnussen, and Vance evoke only some of their characters’ established personalities.
Regardless of their alterations (including the absence of at least one major individual), Camp and company perform a relatively impressive feat of translation. Yet the quirky idiosyncrasies of the Disney original feel slightly flattened out in this version—a state of affairs attributable to turning a distinctive animated feature into a safe blockbuster that, in most respects, resembles an average modern-day family film.
As a Memorial Day diversion for budding young cinephiles, it’ll suffice. Those with a soft spot for this odd-couple adventure, however, will want to hold onto their old DVDs and blu-rays.
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