He’s cute, he’s fluffy, and he’s wreaking some new havoc in theaters. That’s right – Disney’s live-action adaptation of Lilo & Stitch is almost here.

In this remake, the essential plot remains the same — although I found myself surprised by just how much the details changed. While the movie does feature several scenes pulled directly from the 2002 animated feature, there’s also a lot of new content here. Unlike some other Disney live-action adaptations, this Lilo & Stitch does feel like a new movie, rather than a beat-by-beat rehashing of old content.

With the shift to live-action, Disney introduces us to new iterations of Lilo and Nani, played by Maia Kealoha and Sydney Agudong. Kealoha is pretty darn adorable, and is definitely going to win hearts in this movie. And seeing Agudong as Nani really drives home how young the character is — something more easily lost in the feature’s animated version. She really is a kid herself just trying her best. I liked how the movie more explicitly brought in references to kuleana, the responsibility and duty Nani feels to provide for Lilo.

I also liked the way this version of the story gave Nani more of her own backstory, goals, and desires, with surfing, her interest in marine biology, and her college dreams. These characteristics also play out well with her relationship with Lilo; one of my favorite new scenes is watching Lilo show Stitch Nani’s pictures and talk about her accomplishments. You really get to see how much she looks up to her sister in moments like this. The relationship between these sisters acts as the emotional core of the film, and the themes of family and belonging stay strong throughout.

Tia Carrere, the voice of Nani in the animated film, appears in this one as a new character, Mrs. Kekoa. She’s the social worker. While it’s fun to bring in Carrere as an Easter Egg and tribute to the original, her inclusion forced the film to change up its use of Cobra Bubbles (Courtney B. Vance) significantly. I felt like he became pretty irrelevant, which was disappointing since his character is one of the things I like so much about the original film. 

Also surprisingly and disappointingly irrelevant? David. Animated David offered Nani so much emotional support. In this movie, it feels like you could remove his character and nothing would change. Disney lost a top-tier boyfriend here. #JusticeforDavid  

Another way Lilo & Stitch 2025 diverges from its animated story is with its alien characters. This movie drops Captain Gantu entirely. Instead, Jumba (Zach Galifianakis) takes on the villain role. Functionally this works for the plot… I just didn’t particularly like it. I also feel like Galifianakis is miscast here. On the other hand, Billy Magnussen as Pleakley was pretty delightful. His wide-eyed, enthusiastic appreciation for Earth stuff delivers in every scene.

As for Stitch himself? I doubt fans will find themselves disappointed. Chris Sanders returns to reprise his voice role, and the live-action design looks great. Cute and fluffy, indeed. Some iconic animated Stitch moments get a direct translation to live-action, and there are plenty of other moments of chaos added just for this feature.

Here’s where things get a little tricky for me. Generally speaking, this Lilo & Stitch works as a movie. It tells the story it wants to tell, and brings some good heart and humor along the way. In the grand scheme of Disney live-action remakes, I’d even say this movie is one of the studio’s better offers.

However.

It’s hard for me to get truly excited about this film when a better version of it already exists.

The original animated Lilo & Stitch premiered in 2002, in what became known as Disney’s “Experimental” era. With offerings like The Emperor’s New Groove and Atlantis, it was a time when Disney was branching out, taking on stranger, more unusual projects. As an “alien fugitive adopted as a dog” story, Lilo & Stitch certainly fit that “experimental” bill. But the animated film’s premise wasn’t the only aspect of the feature that made it shine in this particular era of filmmaking. There’s a significant part of these characters and the animated movie’s specific humor that also felt experimental – and for me, made Lilo & Stitch a standout among Disney’s many works.

When I think about Lilo, I think about her pickling voodoo doll forks. Her Elvis obsession. Her “blue period” artwork. The way she tells a story about a bug laying eggs in her doll’s ear and the way she asked Cobra Bubbles if he’d ever killed a man. She’s not just a generic troublemaker. She’s weird. Animated Lilo is uniquely strange and her own person, which is why she struggles to make friends and why she bonds so easily with Stitch. It’s also why she stuck out to me so much as a character. 

In this live-action version, we lose weird Lilo. We lose “secretly saved the planet from aliens” Cobra Bubbles. We lose “mad scientist found family” Jumba. And what feels like so many other small but no less significant quirks and characteristics that made Lilo & Stitch special, at least to me.

If you’re a casual fan, these differences may be insignificant to you. If you simply enjoy Stitch’s chaos and the relationship between Lilo and Nani, all that is still here in the new Lilo & Stitch. There are definitely charming moments in this movie, and as I said before, I do think it’s one of Disney’s better live-action offerings, at least when viewed in a vacuum as its own stand-alone piece. But I can’t help but feel like something essential has been lost in translation here, something more than just nostalgia for a childhood film. 

Lilo & Stitch premieres in theaters May 23.