REVIEW: Lilo & Stitch

By now the system errors of Disney's live-action remake matrix are well codified. These outputs tend to have pacing that feels like it was okayed by a chain store manager trying to lower the quarterly statement. They also show weird deference to very specific gags from their animated source yet don't bother to ask whether they fit well in the photorealistic world of live-action. And combing through the screenplay, you always seem to get snagged on certain lines of dialogue that someone must have thought belonged in a children's movie ("Being gross is against galactic regulation!").

These are all present in this summer's live-action reinvention of "Lilo & Stitch." But mercifully, this remake allows itself to go off-script here and there. The result may be one of the stronger Disney remakes ... whatever that's worth.

The 2002 animated masterpiece by Dean Deblois and Chris Sanders (who voices the little blue alien in both the original film and this remake) is a unique entry in the Disney canon for a number of reasons. It's one of the rare films, for example, not to be set in some enchanted fairy-tale realm or else some rich animal kingdom beyond the reach of human interference. It's contemporary America, complete with record players, Volkswagens, and polaroid cameras. But rendered in the lovely watercolor style of hand-drawn animation, it's just as transportive.

Live-action does not have that option. And so this film bears the dubious honor of being the rare film to make the island paradise of Hawaii look less lovely than it actually is.

Most of the narrative adjustments are lateral moves. The community around Nani and Lilo is fleshed out a little more, and there's some extra backstory with Nani turning down college after her parents' accident to take care of her sister. The internet never really found a sore spot in the animated film to rally around (they seem to reserve those mostly for their princess offerings ...) And so, this remake is spared the added burden of having to placate imaginary controversy, it and feels way less weighed down for it.

The remake's biggest change is also its most egregious. We can only speculate why Captain Gantu, the landshark muscle behind most of the actions in Act III, didn't make the cut. Perhaps it simply stretched their budget too much to design one more alien, and so they tossed out their main antagonist thinking they could just have mad scientist Jumbaa lift the extra load and no one would notice. (We did. We definitely did.)

Sydney Agudong emerges as the strongest player, grounding the film with a heart that Nani herself doesn't seem to know she even has. Billy Magnussen absolutely understood the assignment and brings just the right amount of crazy. Maia Kealoha will melt hearts, but the writing gives her precious little opportunity to be the weird girl champion that Lilo 2002 was so well-known for. Zach Galifianakis, meanwhile, brings nothing to a role that was already scrambled in translation.

Stitch himself actually translates fairly well to live-action. Watching him play out onscreen in flesh and blood, you can imagine that the celluloid actor himself opted to come out of retirement one last time for the kids. The effect actually works. I wish the same could be said of his scalier alien compatriots. (Imagine if a Jim Henson creation could sweat ...)

The film could mark a favorable trajectory for future Disney remakes. Though, we could all debate about how useful that is now that all their A-list titles have already been through the procedure.

Oh, who am I kidding. We're only a few years out from them announcing another "Beauty and the Beast" redo anyways ...

--The Professor

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