“Lilo & Stitch”, the live action movie version of the 2002 Disney animation feature film, is a likable product packed with enough charm and spirit, but I also somehow found it rather unnecessary. This is probably because I belatedly watched the animation film version one week ago, which remains vividly in my memory and inevitably came to my mind again and again while I watched the live action movie version.

Incidentally, the animation film version is one of the better works from Disney Studios during the 2000s. Besides being full of personality and style to be appreciated, it was one of the last cell animation films from Disney Studios during that period, and it still demonstrates well how cell animation can be more stylish and spirited compared to digital animation. Although its story and characters are rather simple on the surface, it has a lot of heart and humor than expected, and it also distinguishes itself well with a considerable amount of distinctive mood, style, and charm.

In case of the live action movie version, it faithfully sticks to its original story while making some small changes here and there, but the result reminds us again that live action films can rarely surpass animation films in terms of style and mood. While it did a fairly good job on the whole, it still looks relatively less distinctive compared to the animation film version despite retaining a fair share of charm and personality from the animation film version, and that is the main reason why I just kept making comparisons throughout my viewing instead of getting really engaged and then entertained. 

Especially, I was quite distracted during the opening part of the movie, which often looks like the shot-by-shot digital animation remake of that of the animation film version. Somewhere in the universe, Dr. Jumba Jookiba (Zach Galifianakis), an alien who is your average mad scientist, is arrested along with his latest creature, but the creature, which looks small and cute but can be quite vicious and destructive, escapes not long before being sentenced to lifelong banishment by the council of the United Galactic Federation. It soon flies away to the Earth via a stolen spaceship, and Dr. Jookbia is ordered to retrieve the creature along with a meek alien official named Wendell Pleakley (Billy Magnussen).

The spaceship stolen by the creature happens to crash onto one of the main islands of Hawaii, and then, after a series of destructive happenings, it ends up being in a local animal shelter. While looking for any possible way to evade its chasers, it happens to encounter a young local girl named Lilo (Maia Kealoha), and it is soon named “Stitch” shortly after getting adopted by Lilo.

While Lilo is quite excited about having a pet which can be her best friend, her older sister Nani (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong) is not so amused in contrast, because she has struggled a lot for supporting herself and her younger sister since their parents’ unfortunate death. If she fails to convince their social worker in the end, Lilo will be separated from her and then put under foster care, and that is certainly the last thing Nani wants, no matter how much she gets exasperated due to her rather unruly younger sister.  

As Lilo befriends Stitch more along the story, the movie provides a number of humorous moments while also using several classic pop songs performed by Elvis Presley. Again, these scenes are pretty much close to what was shown in the animation film version, but they are still effective mainly thanks to the solid lead performance of Maia Kealoha, who ably lifts her scenes with charming innocence and plucky presence in addition to being very effortless in her interactions with Stitch on the screen.

In case of Stitch, I still prefer the animation version more, but the CGI version in the film is also sort of endearing. While quite sneaky and mischievous like some of those Looney Tunes characters, it turns out to have a heart to be affected by the sincerity of his unexpected human friends, and they willingly and openly accept him as another member of their “ohana” (It is a Hawaiian term meaning “family”, by the way).

The supporting characters surrounding Lilo and her alien friend are less colorful compared to their counterparts in the animation film version, but the supporting performers in the film try to fill their respective parts as much as possible. Sydney Elizebeth Agudong brings some gravitas to the story as required, and Tia Carrere, who was incidentally the voice of Nina in the animation film version, Amy Hill, and Courtney B. Vance have a little fun with their characters. As Stitch’s two alien chasers, Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen are frequently amusing as their characters try to adjust themselves to their respective human disguises, and Hannah Waddingham provides a bit of extra humor as the unflappable leader of the United Galactic Federation.

In conclusion, “Lilo & Stitch”, directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, is not bad at all, but it is merely competent without anything particularly new or fresh for the fans and admirers of the animation film version. The people behind it do not forget what makes the animation film version so special, but they simply try to replicate it here, and their result only mildly entertained me in the end. To be frank with you, I am already ready to revisit the animation film version sooner or later, and I assure you that you will have a better time if you watch that instead.