"Lilo & Stitch" Trailer: Disney's Live-Action Remake Will Have You Saying 'Ohana' with the Return of the Adorable Blue Alien!
Marcel the Shell director Dean Fleischer Camp brings heart and humor to the beloved alien misfit tale, starring Maia Kealoha and Sydney Agudong.
We imagine most movie-loving audiences are frankly tired of remakes and redos. This new wave of live-action/CG hybrid adaptations of classic animated films? Just another tired retread of Hollywood’s never-ending obsession with reboots, IP, and franchises.
That being said… this new full trailer for Lilo & Stitch will likely charm the pants right off you. Despite your initial inclination to huff, puff, and scream about Hollywood being a cesspool of banality and derivative entertainment, you might just find yourself smiling. And while we don’t necessarily disagree with the sentiment, we also can’t deny that, against all odds, this film looks cute and adorable. And honestly, we kind of hate to admit it. Go ahead, call us suckers.
But here’s the thing—Lilo & Stitch is in the hands of Dean Fleischer Camp, the acclaimed filmmaker behind the award-winning stop-motion/live-action hybrid mockumentary Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. If you’ve seen that film, you know that Camp has a knack for bringing warmth, charm, and heart to unconventional characters. Marcel wasn’t just a whimsical indie gem—it was one of the most delightful and emotionally rich films in recent years. So, if anyone can make Lilo & Stitch more than just another soulless Disney remake, it might just be him.
For the uninitiated, Lilo & Stitch was a 2002 animated blockbuster and one of Disney’s last fully 2D cartoon feature films before the studio shifted exclusively to computer animation. The movie followed a young Hawaiian girl named Lilo Pelekai, who befriends a small, blue alien creature named Stitch. Despite the best efforts of her older sister and legal guardian, Nani, to keep things under control, Lilo and Stitch form an unbreakable bond.
Following the E.T. model, the film became a global hit, touching on universal themes of family (the Hawaiian concept of “ohana”), friendship, resilience, and belonging. And even the most cynical filmgoer would have to agree—these are the kinds of themes we need to remind ourselves of now more than ever.
That’s why, after watching this new trailer—which offers our best look at the film to date—our initial thoughts have been mostly positive. This could very well be one of the biggest films of the summer.
For one, it’s a family movie—a shamelessly, unadulterated family comedy that will surely have kids begging their parents to take them to theaters on opening weekend. And two, Stitch looks freakin’ adorable! He’s basically a kawaii character come to life. Maybe it’s too early to tell, but Stitch is already giving off major Gizmo and E.T. vibes.
We imagine parents won’t mind sitting in a loud movie theater with their kids for this one—especially if it means they can relive those childhood memories of when they first fell in love with little furry alien creatures on the big screen.
Newcomer Maia Kealoha will be making her acting debut as Lilo Pelekai, the pint-sized rascal who ends up caring for and looking after Stitch while mysterious intergalactic agents (played by Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen) are actively trying to track him down and bring him back into captivity.
Meanwhile, Hawaiian actress Sydney Agudong (from Netflix’s On My Block) takes on the role of Lilo’s older sister, Nani, who faces the tough challenge of balancing the responsibilities of being Lilo’s legal guardian while also dealing with the mounting pressure from a watchful child-care social worker—Cobra Bubbles, played by Courtney B. Vance.
Oscar-nominated animator Chris Sanders, who co-directed the original animated film as well as How to Train Your Dragon, returns to lend his signature vocal expressions once more as Stitch.
The cast also includes Kaipo Dudoit, Amy Hill, Jason Scott Lee, and Tia Carrere, with Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham taking on the voice role of the alien council leader of the United Galactic Federation—the authority that wants Stitch back under their control.
Lilo & Stitch is headed to theaters on May 23rd—so, prepare for the chaos, the cuteness, and the ohana!
Here’s the film’s official synopsis:
Lilo & Stitch is the wildly funny and touching story of a lonely Hawaiian girl and the fugitive alien who helps to mend her broken family. The film is directed by award-winning filmmaker Dean Fleischer Camp, with a screenplay by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes, and stars Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Billy Magnussen, Tia Carrere, Hannah Waddingham, Chris Sanders, with Courtney B. Vance, and Zach Galifianakis, and introducing Maia Kealoha.
