Lilo & Sew (2025)
Launch Date: Might 23, 2025
Directed By: Dean Fleischer Camp
Written By: Chris Kekaniokalani Brilliant, Mike Van Waes, Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
Starring: Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders, Sydney Agudong, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, Tia Carrere, Courtney B. Vance, Amy Hill, Hannah Waddingham
Ranking: PG for motion, peril and thematic components
Runtime: 108 minutes
I by no means thought today would come, however with the brand new Lilo & Sew, we’ve someway reached the period of live-action Disney films the place the Home of Mouse is remaking movies from the 2000s… so, I formally really feel previous. The 2002 animated movie got here out on the good time for me. I used to be six years previous, which is the very same age Lilo is within the film when she needs on a “capturing star” for an angel, all of the whereas an extraterrestrial convict referred to as Experiment 626 flees to Earth in hopes of escaping his sentence.
I’ve rewatched it extra instances than I depend, and I’d take into account it not solely among the best Disney films ever made, however my private favourite. So, Dean Fleischer Camp’s remake had loads to stay as much as right here.
The outcomes? In some way, I’ve been pleasantly dazzled by the story yet again via a brand new medium. Not in a “I like this greater than the animated model” method, however it’s just about inconceivable to scoff at a film as cute as this, particularly when it’s fairly darn near hitting the candy and emotional beats that’s as affecting as ever 20 years later.
When co-writers/administrators Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders first introduced Sew into this world, it was an particularly experimental time for the corporate following the a lot beloved Disney Renaissance. Motion pictures like The Emperor’s New Groove, Atlantis: The Misplaced Empire and Treasure Planet additionally got here out throughout this extra eccentric and adventure-filled period.
It’s enjoyable to see the corporate return over this film particularly as a result of it’s one of the crucial wholly unique properties it has (i.e: It’s not based mostly on a fairytale or something like that), and the best way it holds up in a brand new medium solely highlights how particular the thought was to start with.
The newest live-action Disney remake fortunately doesn’t do CGI Sew soiled.
Going into it, the most important concern I had about this film was how Sew would possibly translate in live-action, particularly with him being a long-eared blue alien who passes himself as a canine all through the story. It’s a kind of issues that works nice in an animated film, and is much less plausible when actual persons are concerned. Nevertheless, Disney has completely nailed the recreation of Sew. An enormous a part of this may be credited to the voice of Sew, Chris Sanders, coming again for one more spherical, however the animation and results departments clearly agonized over getting Sew to be as cute and fluffy as he was in 2D animation.
On the similar time, audiences would possibly come out of this Lilo & Sew feeling just like the harmful alien has been a bit overshadowed by its human characters. There’s a couple of much less gags for 626 to be a part of with a purpose to lean into the extra sensible components, and it may really feel just like the film’s extra so from the angle of Nani and the adults within the film as a substitute of from the imaginative headspace of Lilo. You possibly can’t have Sew with out Lilo, and newcomer Maia Kealoha brings a welcome new vitality and delight to the six-year-old. There’s one thing about seeing an precise small youngster fall in love with somewhat alien that makes these tears circulate simpler than ever.
The plain spotlight of Lilo & Sew is how Lilo and Nani’s sisterhood storyline is elevated.
Different Disney remakes appeared to have gone into the method with hopes of updating it for a contemporary viewers, from Snow White making its main heroine extra headstrong, to The Little Mermaid altering round some lyrics. By way of this title, I, like many followers, didn’t see a cause for Lilo & Sew to get this remedy. Whereas I nonetheless stand by that on some fronts, the filmmakers do discover a good cause for this film to exist in relation to strengthening the storyline between Lilo and her older sister, Nani.
Sydney Agudong matches proper into her function as Nani, who’s confronted with parenting her following their mother and pa’s premature dying, all whereas going to highschool, holding a job and being a youngster. The film provides a brand new social employee character, performed by Nani’s unique voice actress, Tia Carrere, that helps floor the film additional. Courtney B. Vance’s Cobra Bubbles function feels prefer it is not as distinguished as within the unique, however very like the remainder of the film, the actor has a extra human strategy than Ving Rhames’ cartoony origins because the undercover CIA agent.
The live-action film makes some third act modifications that don’t work in addition to the unique, however not all of the shake ups are dangerous.
Most of Lilo & Sew very a lot goals to pay tribute to favourite scenes, with tons of quotable strains and moments being recreated in a brand new medium. Oftentimes, it may really feel just like the film is dashing via the unique’s “biggest hits” and simply wants to take a seat within the second a bit extra and permit for the viewers to benefit from the Hawaiian views. However, the filmmakers do additionally take some inventive liberties with a purpose to higher work for the live-action medium.
The outcomes are blended, however total intriguing to see play out. For instance, Jumba and Pleakley, the 2 aliens who’re employed by the United Galactic Federation to retrieve Sew from Earth, spend loads much less time in alien type and disguise themselves as people whereas in Hawaii for apparent causes. Actually, these two aliens are type of terrifying in live-action, so I get it. Zach Galifinakis and Billy Magnussen serviceably embody the roles, however it does really feel like some goofiness from the animated type is misplaced this time round.
Pleakley particularly feels probably the most underutilized while Jumba is given a bigger, however someway flat function that expands into the third act. There’s undoubtedly one thing refreshing about a number of the turns the film takes later within the movie given most of it attracts closely from the unique. The brand new Lilo & Sew greatest modifications solely spotlight the central message of “Ohana” all through, and that makes it definitely worth the experience.
So far as Disney remakes go, particularly for a film nearly as good and well-loved as Lilo & Sew, Dean Fleischer Camp’s film tows a good line of being a trustworthy remake and reintroducing a brand new era and nostalgic longtime followers. It jogged my memory why I’ve liked the 2002 fashionable basic since I used to be a child, and thru many phases of my life, and in addition supplied a brand new perspective to the story I wouldn’t have gotten in any other case if it hadn’t been made.