Speak Now Storyteller

Summary: A lonely Hawaiian girl befriends a runaway alien, helping to mend her fragmented family.

This will be a short review and I won’t spoil the changes much.

There’s a mid credit scene.

Pros:

Cast and Characters. Shout out to Courtney B. Vance as Cobra Bubbles, he was fine. Tia Carrere as Mrs. Kekoa the social worker, I liked her. She also voiced Nani in the animated film. Amy Hill as Tūtū, she’s their neighbor and David’s grandmother. I thought she was a good addition. Jason Scott Lee, the original voice for David also pops up in the film.

• Maia Kealoha as Lilo Pelekai. Lilo is a six-year-old Native Hawaiian girl who has a very imaginative yet rebellious and impulsive nature. This causes her to get into trouble a lot and gets her teased by her classmates who call her “weird.” I was concerned they were going to take out her fight with Myrtle and while it’s not exactly the same, they do keep a physical interaction between them. Lilo is very cute and energetic and I think she has great chemistry with both Stitch and Sydney (Nani) because the film is definitely staked on these two relationships. I will talk about her acting a bit more later but I think in the end, she’s cute and she’s fine.
• Sydney Elizebeth Agudong as Nani Pelekai. Nani is Lilo’s older sister and legal guardian. We see that she was a “straight-A student” and had a lot going for her future but due to their parents’ tragic passing, she had to give that up to care for her sister. She’s trying. She’s feeling the pressure and it’s definitely a struggle. I’ve always really liked Nani and I still really like her in this film. I was annoyed with Sydney’s casting, especially since it looks like they tanned her in the film to get past the criticisms. I think they should have just casted a darker skinned Islander and I still think that but I did like Sydney. I think she really shines in the emotional moments. It’s because of her that I teared up a lot of times. I really liked her chemistry with Maia as the movie went on and I did believe they were sisters.
• Chris Sanders as the voice of Stitch. Stitch is a blue koala-like illegal alien genetic experiment known as Experiment 626, who is adopted by Lilo as a “dog”. Stitch being an alien that was created to be destructive, he definitely is that. He causes a lot more trouble for Lilo and Nani when he cons his way into their lives. He wants to destroy everything in the past and doesn’t expect to love and care for this little girl. He comes through a lot in the end. Chris Sanders was the original voice for Stitch, as well as one of the directors. He’s great at Stitch’s voice. To maintain that little voice and have emotional beats is great. Not to mention, I think Stitch’s CGI is really good.
• Kaipo Dudoit as David Kawena. David is Lilo and Nani’s neighbor, living with his grandmother. He has a little crush on Nani and tends to be a bit awkward with her. He also works at the lūʻau with Nani and is a “fire performer”. Because he’s a friend, he does often pop up to help them out, like with the surfing sequence. I thought Kaipo was super cute and he really did give off awkward crush guy. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of him but what we got was good.
• Billy Magnussen as the voice of Agent Wendell Pleakley. Disney really likes Billy lol. Pleakley is an agent of the United Galactic Federation and their “expert” on Earth. He’s sent along with Jumba to keep him in check from harming the humans while hunting Stitch. I thought he was a good choice because Billy has no problem being silly. I thought he did a good job with the character. He had a fitting voice for the CGI alien. When he was human, he was really good with the physical comedy. Sure, Pleakley didn’t get any drag disguises but he does wear women’s clothes a few times and some silly outfits trying to “hide in plain sight”.

Emotional Beats. I could have just been emotional but I was silently sobbing at certain points of the movie. They do well with the emotional beats in this movie. The animated movie makes me cry too, especially the hammock scene with Lilo and Nani, but this one had a few extra moments that had me wiping my eyes a lot. The hammock scene got me, and a lot of scenes after that got me too. I also think they did a good job with animating Stitch because him reacting to things, feeling sad and going off to curl up in the dog pound, had me in tears.

The Ending. Apparently there’s been a lot of negative responses to the end of the movie and I think people are being dramatic about it. I really liked what they did. I thought it was realistic and it allowed Nani to still live her life. I thought it was handled very well.

Cons:

The Acting at times. When the movie started, I remember sighing because I didn’t think the acting was going to be good from the younger actors. I think there are some line deliveries from Sydney Agudong that feel forced. Whenever she’s acting like a “parent” to Lilo, being yelly and strict, it doesn’t work that well. Maia Kealoha is a child so I always try to be gentle with child actors and while I thought she was a good Lilo overall, she definitely has the chance to get better as she gets older, if she chooses to continue acting. I will talk about Zach Galifianakis later.

Cobra Bubbles. I don’t really care for the change of him no longer being the CPS agent but just a CIA agent looking for Stitch. I think his introduction was handled sloppily, he just pops up lol and at the end when they all meet the Grand Councilwoman, there’s this prolonged moment where he stares at her and that was weird to me. I think he could have still been part of CPS, working with the new lady in the movie, like her partner, and then maybe reconnects with the CIA because of Stitch. I just didn’t like how he fit in the story at times.

Zach Galifianakis as Dr. Jumba Jookiba. I didn’t like him at all. I remembered thinking he was an interesting choice for the character but not only did I not like his CGI design (not a very good recreation but I guess he would be hard lol), but I didn’t like Zach’s voice acting and I didn’t think he worked for the character. Also, they didn’t have Captain Gantu, because they wanted Stitch (and Lilo) have a personal connection with the antagonist, so they made Jumba the antagonist and I didn’t mind this overall, but I do think they could have handled it a bit better. The best part was at the end with the confrontation with Lilo and Stitch in her house.

Overall, I think Lilo & Stitch was cute and I had a good time. People always complain about the remakes “replacing” the original movies and I don’t get that thinking because it’s just not true. The original still exists. So if you don’t like this, that’s okay, the original is there for you. But for any of the new kids who don’t vibe with the 2D animation, they might love this lol. I thought the spirit is still there for the most part, I think the changes they made to the story really hit emotional beats and worked really well. I thought Maia and Sydney worked well as sisters and I thought Lilo and Stitch were cute (as they should be). I liked most of the characters. I thought it was funny and a good time. It’s not super long so it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. My issues were that some of the acting was inconsistent. I didn’t like how they incorporated Cobra Bubbles in the film. It ended up being fine but I feel like there was a better way. I didn’t like Jumba in this at all. But in the end, I think Lilo & Stitch (2025) was good and even without the original to “live up to”, I think it stands alone on it’s own well enough.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I recommend Lilo & Stitch!

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