Lilo & Stitch Remake Is Being Dragged By Fans Despite Box Office Success

Even after Memorial Day Weekend, the early summer blockbusters are still going strong with no time to slow down.

The year 2025 has been the year for some notable movies; earlier this year, Sinners made its debut, soon followed by Final Destination: Bloodlines and Thunderbolts, and now Lilo & Stitch and Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible are added to the list.

After both were released on May 23, the Disney live-action remake alone grossed over $183 million, with Tom Cruise’s film trailing behind with $77 million in both the United States and Canada. Both movies secured a big win over the weekend with a total of $341.7 million globally, according to Box Office Mojo.

Final Reckoning, the eighth and potentially final entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise, made $190 million worldwide. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Disney classic Lilo and Stitch has now become the biggest Memorial Day opener of all time with no inflation, topping films such as Top Gun: Maverick, which debuted with $160.5 million back in 2022.

The animated classic Lilo & Stitch is based on the story of a Hawaiian girl named Lilo, who encounters one of the galaxy’s most wanted extraterrestrials, Stitch, and adopts him as her own pet. The live-action sequel follows the same plot but with different changes.

In the live-action remake, Nani’s backstory is expanded upon just a bit. Lilo’s sister was considered a high-star athlete and an excellent star student until she pushed back her dreams to raise Lilo after their parents died.

“I feel a lot of things for Nani. The original doesn’t go that deeply into it, but this poor girl was essentially forced to be a teen mom at the time of her life when all of her friends would be graduating high school, dating, and thinking about their futures; she had to put that on hold, so I felt like a really rich character to invest in,” said Fleischer Camp.

Other changes noticed in the movie were that Jumba and Pleakley were human instead of aliens. According to Camp, the reason was to tell a more emotional story. “If we get too clownish with this or That, does it undermine the stakes?”

Another huge thing that takes place in the movie is the ending; instead of Nani continuing to raise Lilo at the end of the original animated film, in the live-action remake, Nani ultimately gives Lilo away to pursue her dreams.

With these changes, the fans were not pleased. On Rotten Tomatoes, Lilo and Stitch, the live-action remake received a rating of 69%, and social media as a whole had an adverse reaction to it. Some of its biggest criticisms have been the casting, especially for Nani. Since Lilo takes place in Hawaii, people initially adored the animated film due to its representation of Pacific Islanders.

The actor who plays Nani was criticized because some argued that she looked lighter than her animated character. Even more, criticism arose when Kahiau Machado, the actor who was supposed to play David, used racial slurs in screenshots on social media, causing Kapio Dudoit to replace him.

Not only were Agent Pleakley and Jumba changed to humans in the film, but they also removed Pleakley’s cross-dressing. In the live-action remake, he’s only wearing men’s clothing.

“Pleakley having a human form and not cross-dressing is a sign of rising fascism btw,” said Darizpan on X.

Another person on X, Angel Valderie, stated, “Erasing Pleakley’s drag and substituting it for human suits is bad because Disney wants to appease transphobes.”

Camp responded to the overall criticism and spoke about it to Entertainment Weekly; he tried out special effects where aliens could try out human clothing but didn’t like the results. “The humor in them walking around Hawaii dressed in these terrible disguises where Pleakley still has one eyeball is a little harder to buy in live action.”

Despite the adverse reactions and these changes, Lilo and Stitch were successful at the box office. 

The actor that plays is none other than Hawaiian child star Lilo, Maia Kealoha. Chris Sanders, who created and wrote the original animated film, voiced Stitch in the remake.

The actress who plays Lilo’s guardian and sister, Nani, is Sydney Agudong, with Kaipo Dudoit as Nani’s friend, David. Regarding other characters, Courtney B Vance plays Cobra Bubbles, Billy Magnussen plays Pleakley, and Zach Galifianakis plays Dr. Thumbs Jookiba. Overall, Lilo & Stitch have stolen the hearts of many, even all these years later.

When it comes to Mission Impossible—The Final Reckoning, Cruise, 62, is a notable star along with Angela Bassett, Nick Offerman, Herny Czerny, Simon Pegg, Hayle Atwell, Pam Klementieff, and other actors.

This eighth installment is a callback to all the other seven movies involved in this franchise. On this last adventure, it’s up to Ethan’s Hunt Impossible Mission Force to finish the fight during Dead Reckoning to save the world.

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