Is Disney making too many changes to their live-action movies? For the past few years, Disney has been releasing new live-action versions of their old animated movies, some of the first being The Jungle Book, 101 Dalmatians, and Alice in Wonderland. Generally, these movies are highly controversial, with some people thinking they are really good, whilst others think the opposite.
Recently, on May 23rd, Disney released the live-action version of Lilo and Stitch. The original movie follows an evil runaway alien who is being hunted, crash-landing in Hawaii, pretending to be a dog, getting adopted, and being named Stitch. He and his owner, Lilo, go on an adventure together, teaching him how to be a good dog while avoiding being hunted and caught.
The original was a loved movie by many and is considered a classic among Disney enthusiasts. But the live-action is much different. Generally, the movie starts the same with Stitch being sentenced to exile, but it quickly veers off course because of the lack of Gaptain Gantu, the main antagonist in the original movie. It’s especially in the beginning chase scene where Stitch escapes and is pursued by the other main characters. Then, to catch Stitch, the Alien leader, Grand Councilwoman, sends two aliens, Pleakly, a mosquito conservationist, and Jumba, the alien credited with the creation of Stitch. Together, Pleakly and Jumba have many close calls with Stitch, but never quite catch him. After a while, Jumba gets impatient and goes rogue on his hunt for the escapee. He captures Stitch’s friend Lilo as a hostage, but eventually Stitch frees Lilo, and they defeat Jumba. The movie has a great resolution. On top of that, Lilo’s elder sister leaves to go to college, which is new to the live-action, plus the Grand Councilwoman allows Stitch to stay with Lilo.
The movie is a great watch and a good remake of the original, but there were many differences. For example, Pleakly and Jumba’s costumes were changed from hilariously bad costumes to actual morphs of real people, the addition of a new social worker and a new neighbor, and many more. Overall, the movie had a much more serious tone, presumably because of the removal of some essential comedic moments.
Due to the number of changes in the live-action, many people have had their opinions about the franchise change, and there’s a fluctuation. “One of the main differences I noticed was that he [Stitch] didn’t say the same word o’hanna in the live-action as he did in the original,” remarked 11th grader Dylan Geiger. Elsa Cernohous said, “The biggest difference was in the ending when Nani leaves Lilo to study marine biology.” While some people may not like the movie, it scored a 72% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.7/10 on IMDb.
In the end, Lilo and Stitch isn’t just an amazing movie; it is a wild ride full of great lessons showing themes like loyalty, acceptance, and love in surprising ways, leading the viewers to a connection with those themes. These live actions are great, new, and they include a great representation of good plot, story, and meaning that will resonate with viewers.