Lilo & Stitch (U)

Illegal genetic experiment 626 escapes United Galactic Federation confinement, steals a red spaceship and crash-lands on a wildlife reserve for endangered mosquitoes known as Earth. The furry critter ends up in an animal rescue centre in Hawaii and escapes recapture by pretending to be a dog so it can be adopted by six-year-old orphan Lilo. The girl christens her mischievous companion Stitch and the pair wreak havoc on Lilo's legal guardian, older sister Nani.

LondonNet Film Review

Lilo & Stitch (U) Film Review from LondonNet

If cherubic cuteness could be bottled and sold, Maia Kealoha would be a multi-millionaire. The eight-year-old Hawaiian actress oozes adorability from every sun-kissed pore in a title role of director Dean Fleischer Camp’s feel-great live-action reworking of the acclaimed 2002 Disney animation, which remains faithful to beloved source material but isn’t afraid to upcycle and refurbish for modern tastes. Screenwriters Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes appropriate meaningful dialogue from the original including a heart-tugging life lesson about togetherness (“Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind”) and Stitch’s wholesome declaration of love…

The script also hulas with the times (Lilo quips that she knows about her sister’s crush because she reads text messages), reconfiguring existing characters and introducing new faces including an elderly neighbour for broad comic relief. Tia Carrere, Jason Scott Lee and Amy Hill, who voiced older sister Nani, boyfriend David and forgetful fruit vendor Mrs Hasagawa in the 2002 picture, invest warmth and bountiful humour to their supporting roles and provide a nostalgic connection between old and new. Chris Sanders reprises the voice of Stitch and the digitally rendered incarnation of his alien rapscallion is almost as irresistibly cheeky as its hand-drawn counterpart, seamlessly gelling with human co-stars to elicit gurgles of glee from the target audience. The new Lilo & Stitch is a close encounter of the lovable kind.

Illegal genetic experiment 626 (voiced by Sanders) escapes United Galactic Federation (UGF) confinement, steals a red spaceship and crash-lands on a wildlife reserve for endangered mosquitoes known as Earth. The “flawed product of a deranged mind” ends up in an animal rescue centre in Hawaii and escapes recapture at the hands of creator Dr Jumba Jookiba (Zach Galifianakis) and UGF agent Pleakley (Billy Magnussen) by pretending to be a dog so it can be adopted by six-year-old orphan Lilo Pelekai (Kealoha).

The girl christens her mischievous companion Stitch and the pair wreak havoc on Lilo’s legal guardian, older sister Nani (Sydney Agudong), who is struggling to pay bills and appease child protective services represented by social worker Mrs Kekoa (Carrere). “You’re not bad. You just do bad things sometimes,” Lilo sweetly informs Stitch. Kindly neighbour Tutu (Hill) and surfer grandson (Kaipo Dudoit) provide emotional support to the Pelekais but the sisters’ movements are being tracked by US government agent Cobra Bubbles (Courtney B Vance).

Lilo & Stitch is a wholesome and charming remake that leaves a lump in the throat by retaining the underlying sentiment and replaying memorable sequences such as the alien’s exhilarating introduction to surfing. Newcomer Kealoha is a wonder, confidently riding waves of comedy and tragedy to endear us to her bullied and lonely heroine. Breathtaking Hawaiian locales will make you wish you were there, even with Stitch unleashing chaos across Oahu.

– Jo Planter