Lilo & Stitch (2025): Same Mischief, Different Story

Lilo and Stitch took the world by storm when it was initially released in June 2002. With Lilo’s feisty and funny personality and Stitch’s mischief and cuteness, the movie touched the hearts of children and adults everywhere. 

At the 2024 D23 Disney Expo, the Live-Action version of Lilo and Stitch was announced to the world and was set to release in theaters on May 23, 2025, and on Disney+ on September 3. 

Some people loved the movie, while others felt that the various changes made were ineffective. 

The Story 

Lilo and Stitch follows a young Hawaiian girl named Lilo and her big sister and guardian as they try to work together to save their ohana. Nani is struggling to keep their home together and find a stable job to pay the bills. 

Lilo ends up going to a pet shelter and “purchasing” a dog, who is actually the mischievous blue alien, Stitch, also known as Experiment 626.  Stitch is on the run from his creator, Jumba, who wants to make him more evil, and the human lover, Pleakley, because the Grand Council Women want him destroyed for his mischievous actions. 

Stitch causes a great deal of mischief in Lilo’s and Nani’s lives, making it hard for their little ohana to stay together. Will Nani keep Lilo, or will they be separated due to the little creature? 

Is it Better Than the Original? (Spoilers Ahead) 

As a diehard fan of the original Lilo and Stitch movie, the live-action movie was kind of a disappointment for me. For instance, they made one of my favorite characters, Jumba, into a villain. 

Jumba was such a hilarious character in the original, with his accent that made him unique compared to the other aliens, and his witty comments to Stitch always made me laugh. 

“WHAAAAATT!! After all you put me through, you expect me to help you just like that?! JUST LIKE THAT…Fine….What? He is very persuasive.” 

In the live action, he was a complete villain. No humorous lines or good in him. He doesn’t want to help Stitch; all he wants is to make him evil. 

Also, since Jumba was a villain in the live-action, we didn’t get the OG villain, Captain Gantu. He was such a good villain. Gantu was strictly driven by his pride, which was to serve the Grand Councilwoman’s command to capture Stitch. 

One thing that really made me mad about this movie is the fact that Nani gave away Lilo. What happened to “ohana means family, family means no one gets left behind or forgotten?” In the 2002 movie, Lilo was taken away from Nani by Cobra Bubbles because Nani did not have a stable income. 

However, in the live action, Nani gave Lilo away for her health insurance to get paid. That would’ve never happened in the OG movie. Nani would have fought as hard as she could to keep Lilo. She stood by “ohana.” 

I will always complain that the duck scene from the original did not get put in the live-action. If you don’t know the scene, it is the one where Stitch stands in the forest saying “I’m lost” to try to find his family, like how he saw in the duck book. It is my favorite scene in the whole movie, and I was really hoping to see it in live action. 

Overall, I did enjoy the new Lilo and Stitch. Maia Kealoha, the actress who played Lilo, did a phenomenal job portraying her, and so did Sydney Agudong, who played Nani. 

To see Stitch in real life made my heart so happy. I have always loved Stitch as a character. He is so adorable inside and out.