Lilo & Stitch (2025) COMPLETELY Misunderstands Ohana
How Lilo & Stitch 2025 COMPLETELY Misunderstands Ohana
Welcome to MsMojo, and today were getting into why the 2025 remake of Lilo & Stitch completely misunderstands ohana. Spoilers!
Anyone who has seen the 2002 animated classic can tell you that ohana means family. True Lilo & Stitch fans will add family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten. So naturally, the remake culminates with Nani moving to San Diego, leaving Lilo behind in Hawaii. Okay, to be fair, we skipped over some details. Namely, Nani leaves to attend college, Lilo is still with family, and the sisters can see each other whenever via portal gun. So, Nani doesnt straight-up abandon Lilo as many memes have suggested. Yet, having Nani surrender Lilo to the foster system doesnt just feel like an overcorrection to a perceived issue that nobody had with the original. It completely misses its predecessors point, despite copying and pasting almost everything else.
In the remake, Nani wants to be a marine biologist, getting a scholarship to her dream college. With the sudden passing of their parents, though, Nani puts her ambitions on hold to be Lilos guardian at first. Expanding upon Nanis aspirations isnt a bad idea. Our problem is that Nani never does anything that implies shes genuinely passionate about marine biology. The audience doesnt see her interact with sea life or their ecosystems. She just says she wants to be a marine biologist, which isnt enough to get us invested in this subplot. Wed say shes like George Costanza, but even he pulled a golf ball out of a whale. Thats more marine biology than Nani does in this movie.
Among those encouraging Nani to attend college is her neighbor Tt, Davids grandmother and a surrogate grandparent to the sisters. We get what the filmmakers were trying to do with this new character, emphasizing that ohana extends to found family. Although well-played by Amy Hill, Tts presence raises several problems. In the original, Nani is compelled to get Lilo a dog after she wishes for a friend. It shows that despite being out of her element, Nani is trying her best to help Lilo adjust. Here, Nani isnt even present when Stitch is adopted. Tt takes Lilo to the animal shelter. If Tt has so much free time to babysit, why does Nani drag Lilo and Stitch along on her ill-fated job interviews?
Plus, the original already had a found family message, not just through Stitch, but Jumba and Pleakley, who become members of the Pelekai household. Well, in Jumbas case, the filmmakers essentially said, Hes the bad guy now! Why? Because Captain Gantu isnt in this, but they still need a third-act conflict. Why didnt they just have Gantu be the villain? Director Dean Fleischer Camp said in an interview, Gantu was one of those things that just didnt work so well in live-action. Really? You thought every other alien worked as CGI nightmares, but you drew the line at Gantu? Are you sure this wasnt because you only had a $100 million budget and this was cheaper than hiring another actor or more effects artists?
As insulting as Jumbas character assassination is, separating the sisters goes to show that the remake doesnt understand the originals message. In the animated film, Nani and Lilo are hellbent on sticking together, despite being at odds. Even when their house is destroyed, Nani knows that Lilos home is with her. In the remake, Nani gives in to her social workers arguments about halfway in. She decides to surrender guardianship without even asking Lilo what she wants. Yeah, Lilo is fine with it in the end, but the animated Lilo wouldnt be. Neither would the animated Nani. Its as if the remake is suggesting that the animated version was wrong. Nani wasnt capable of raising her sister and shouldve let the state step in.
If you think were reading too much into the filmmakers intent, Fleischer Camp said in another interview that Nani was a little too rose-colored glasses for somebody in her situation. He went on to say, It just felt like she might not have such an easy time buying into, Nobody gets left behind because she certainly would feel like, well, Im struggling here. Aside from misinterpreting the characters, the remake seemingly sends a pro-colonial message. The original saw Nani fight to keep her family together, standing up to a government tearing them apart. The remakes Nani submits to that government and moves from her homeland. Were not saying Disney meant to champion colonialism, but did they do any research into the displacement of Native Hawaiians?
It sounds like were picking on Fleischer Camp, but he is a talented director. Just go watch Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Like many directors assigned to these live-action remakes, though, we dont think he got the original. Fleischer Camp summed up why when he said he was trying to ground these characters more and tell a story with a little more emotional depth, especially between the sisters. First, Lilo and Nanis relationship in the original overflowed with emotional depth. Second, this story has an animated alien resembling a blue koala. If youre trying to make it grounded, youre doing it wrong. Despite claiming to be more grounded and realistic, the remake gift-wraps the characters with a lot of easy solutions to complicated issues.
Nani ultimately gives guardianship to Tt, but its not like shell ever be that far from Lilo with that trusty portal gun. Well, not everyone in Nani and Lilos situation has somebody like Tt who can just step in. Their animated counterparts certainly didnt. Also, nobody has a portal gun. How is this more grounded? The original understood that no family is perfect, but Nani, Lilo, and Stitch do their best with what they have, and what they have is enough. Like most of the other Disney remakes, this film acts as if theres something that needs to be fixed or perfected, especially concerning Nani. Addressing elements that didnt age well is one thing, but Disney is looking for issues that were never there.
It doesnt matter if a heroine was already modern. She isnt modern enough for current Disney. Belle cant just be a bookworm. She needs to be an inventor, too. Mulan cant just be an ordinary girl who risks everything to protect her family, coming into her own as the story unfolds. She needs to be a martial arts master from the get-go. Nanis sole goal cant be to selflessly take care of her sister following the tragic death of their parents. She needs to be a girlboss who goes to college and becomes a marine biologist despite never doing or saying anything related to marine biology. Once again, Disney overcompensates to the point that they completely misunderstand the original, not to mention ohana.
Do any of the changes work? Well, we do like that Stitchs weakness to water factors more into the climax, and Nani is the one who saves him. It shows that Nani has accepted Stitch as family, and family doesnt get left behind except for that part when Nani leaves her family behind, which we guess is okay as long as you have a portal gun? We know nostalgic audiences are turning the remake into whatll likely be a billion-dollar hit. Hey, at least its keeping movie theaters open. Years from now, though, we guarantee people will still be watching the animated classic at home, remaining a perennial family staple. The remake isnt like ohana, however. It can be easily left behind and forgotten.
Do you think the remake is bad, or do you just think it does bad things sometimes? Let us know in the comments.
