It’s Not “Lilo & Stitch” – It’s “Nani”

I hate Disney live action remakes – though now, like Thunderbolts*, I’m afraid I have to add an asterisk. Because yes, I do hate them. They’re creatively lazy at best and an outright attack on nostalgia at worst… But I didn’t hate the new Lilo & Stitch. A garbage opinion to hold, if internet consensus is anything to go by, but please, just hear me out. I’m not saying the new film is as good as the original. I’m not even saying it’s necessarily good. What I am saying is that it offered a whole new perspective on the film for me, because 23 years after the first film, I’m not the same person anymore.

In 2025, I don’t see myself in Lilo and Stitch anymore – I see myself in Nani.

I doubt I need to introduce the plot of the film to you. It’s a remake – the plot is more or less the same as the original Lilo & Stitch. If you aren’t familiar with the story yet, why are you even reading this article? What I will talk about, however, are some of the changes made in the live action that are garnering criticism.

Jumba and Pleakley, for example, are in human form for most of the film. Not only does this take away a lot of the characters’ humour, it also for some reason meant that Pleakley didn’t dress as a woman during the film. I guess the cowards at Disney didn’t want to offend conservative sensibilities by having a "trans" character. Boo hiss.

They also took out a lot of the criticism and jokes aimed at tourists on the island. I've seen some pretty compelling theories that claim Disney is planning Lilo-&-Stitch-themed experiences in Hawai’i and don’t want to insult their potential customers, even though the tourism industry in Hawai’i is already beyond unsustainable. More boos. Longer hisses.

The biggest mistake the move made, though, was the change to Nani’s storyline. Major spoilers here: she leaves Lilo at the end of the film. She’s going to study marine biology in California, despite the fact that Hawai’i has some of the best universities for the subject. So much for “‘Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind,” right?

Well, I'm not too sure.

I’m not going to touch on whether Nani’s choice aligns with Hawaiian culture, because I’m far from an authority on that. But I can say this: for the first time, I really understood what Nani was going through while watching the 2025 version, and part of that is actually because it’s live action and not a cartoon. I know animation isn’t just for kids, but seeing Sydney Agudong as Nani forces us to confront the character in a more tangible way. It's not just her performance – it's the fact that she's real. I've seen the emotions Agudong brings to life on my family, my friends... And even on myself.

When it comes down to it, the new Lilo & Stitch affected me a lot more because I know the world much better now than I did at age 4. While I was an agent of chaos just like Lilo when I first watched the film, I now understand what Nani’s going through – and I see myself in it.

While I’ve never lost my parents and been left caring for my young sister before (thank god), I did spend a year caring for my ill grandmother while dealing with immense financial difficulties. When I watched the new movie, I could really feel the weight of Nani's responsibility, the impossibility of her situation. I saw myself in her, the anxiety of trying to move forward but always being stuck in place and the small humiliating bitterness that comes with it. Because yes, I was doing the "right thing", and yes, family means nobody gets left behind... But why does that so often mean leaving two people behind instead of bringing everyone forward?

In the new movie, Nani is letting herself be left behind for the sake of her sister. It’s a noble sacrifice… But not a necessary one. She might be Lilo’s only biological family, but their support network extends into the wider community. When that community steps up in the form of Tūtū and David taking guardianship of Lilo, they’re making sure that Nani doesn’t get left behind either. Lilo is cared for by people who love her and understand her culture, and Nani is able to get a degree (why on the mainland though…) that will hopefully help her provide for Lilo in the future. Everyone moves forward, together.

How many of us mourn our lack of community these days? How many of us talk about the need for solidarity, for “villages” of people who support each other? And yet when Nani has that, it’s a betrayal of everything Lilo & Stitch stood for, apparently. I can’t say that Nani leaving for the mainland makes sense, and it's painfully plot-convenient that she can teleport back to Hawai’i whenever she wants, but I don’t think “nobody gets left behind” is supposed to be about literally being physically present. Are we really going to be mad about the message that your community is a part of your family, and that we have to accept care as much as we give it?

Martyrdom isn’t fun or helpful. Let’s not encourage it any more than we already do, especially among women, eh?

The 2025 version of Lilo & Stitch is flawed and deeply problematic in countless ways. It’s never going to be what the original version was, and I’m still mad that we got a remake of an already amazing film instead of a new classic about Hawai'i and its people. Still, I can appreciate that this was the first live action remake where the fact that it was live action actually changed the experience of the film for me, and I can appreciate the message it’s trying to convey, clumsily as it may have been conveyed.

I’m not asking you to love the new Lilo & Stitch. I’m not even asking you to like it. But I do hope that after reading this, you understand why some people still connect with it, because on some level, for some people, it’s an important and necessary reminder that we don’t deserve to be left behind either.