Disney Remakes: It Means No Property Goes Without A Remake Or Is Left In The Disney Vault (Lilo And Stich Remake)
I am not the biggest fan of the recent string of Disney live action remakes of their classic films, I say recent when this trend began in 2014, meaning it has been going on for eleven years. That being said I was kind of excited for this one, Lilo and Stich is a fantastic movie and there is always hope that Disney hits the nail on the head on one of these films. I have seen a couple of these even one or two in theaters, and Mulan is still what I personally consider the bottom of the barrel, perhaps I will get into that someday. I went out and and saw this one and here are my thoughts, let's see if this is the one.
This one is not the one. This movie was very messy, making changes that left me scratching my head, and questioning this films very existence. I will begin with the good, because trust me, I try not to be too negative, but this film does not have a ton of it.
The actress playing Lilo and Nani do very well, but what they are given doesn't really work. They use the music from the original, and Stitch looks pretty good, he is well animated and there are some solid chuckles in the movie. I found myself laughing at moments where Stitch just got to cause chaos and such, and the movie is pretty well shot, some of the CGI looks very good.
That being said some of the CGI namely on Jumba and Pleakley looks downright uncanny, and while on that subject, this movie does not do Jumba well. They make Jumba the main villain instead of Gantu and it removes all the charm he had before. It would help if he and Pleakley had any moments that made me laugh, but every time they were on screen felt like a complete waste of time. They have this odd tech that makes them look human so they can be played by their human actors which does not lead to many laughs.
Nani is also done out of character because what was originally her role is split up between multiple new characters such as a neighbor who was pretty funny and social worker played by Nani's original VA. The problem is Nani wants to be a marine biologist even though she lives in Hawaii, and she willingly gives Lilo up. Taking all the emotion out of her wanting to care for Lilo and their goodbye scene feeling hollow and soulless, like so much of this movie feels. The moments of Hawaiian culture feel way less important then they did in the original or the show. They do not have the ugly duckling plot with Stich and he just walks away sadly, and has nothing to connect with, and they have multiple moments of danger that has no stakes. Cobra Bubbles is just an agent and not the social worker anymore and feels like an afterthought compared to the one from the animated film. There is so much wrong with this movie, it even ends with Lilo living with neighbor while Nani goes to college.
So much of this film feels like a cruel joke for fans of the original and even the TV show. There is even a reference to the TV show and the sequel movies that had me so surprised they did that, but with Jumba as the villain, it doesn't fully feel like this cast is a small little family by the end. Even Lilo and Nani don't feel that much like a family in this movie.
You are better off watching the original, and TV show, and even the other movies over this. I want Disney to just try new ideas whether in live action or in animation. These remakes still continue to baffle me, Mulan is still the worst one in my eyes, but this is far from the best of the remakes. There are a couple of shining moments but the humor is not enough, and the heart is not really there. There is good acting and some laughs, but this movie was not worth seeing on the big screen, not in the slightest. So the wait for the Disney remake that finally clicks with me goes on, because this was far from a Hawaiian roller coaster ride, this was just another remake that missed the mark.
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