James Whitehead
Disney have released the first full trailer online for ‘Lilo & Stitch’. In their latest, live-action reimagining of a beloved classic, the remake follows the same plot as the original, with a young girl who gets more than she bargains as her new pet dog turns out to be an escaped alien experiment.
The original is still one of the most beloved Disney films to date, and by comparison to other recent Disney reboots, not that much time has passed since the original release, 2002, causing fans to be worried about attempts to make it again so soon. Disney have also shown that their live-action reboots can be very hit-or-miss, so since the film was announced there has been a mixture of anticipation and fear.
Whilst the design for Stitch was shown last year at Disney’s live event, D23, the first trailer is by far our best look at the film yet. Despite the small sample size, I believe there are at least three main reasons for fans to be feeling positive, based on what we have already seen.
1. Original director and writer still involved.
Chris Sanders, the voice of ‘Stitch’ and the writer/director for the original returns to assist with writing and voicing experiment 626, once again. This alone should help to ease some concerns fans may have, fears that the reboot won’t have the same understanding of the story or the same feel. Chris Sanders did a fantastic job directing the original so it’s incredibly smart to keep him involved in many of the same aspects of the reboot. This will help with the films’ authenticity as it looks to capture the same magic as the 2002 film.
2. Lilo & Stitch look perfect.
It doesn’t take a genius to identify how critical it is for the film that they got the leads Lilo and Stitch right. Many a time the big outcry over a reboot comes when fans don’t take to a beloved character’s portrayal or redesign. See the recent reactions to the new Shrek 5 trailer for example. Whilst it may seem straight forward to use the same design for Stitch, the commitment to keeping him the same displays careful intent to the fans about keeping the best parts of the original. The iconic design of Stitch being one of them.
Naturally, the other crucial component was the casting of Lilo. Again, despite the small sample size of one trailer, it truly seems like Disney have nailed the task with the discovery of Maia Kealoha. The young Hawaii native, is bursting with the innocence and kindness of Lilo in the animated film and already deserves so much credit. For her first feature film to be acting opposite a completely computer-generated character, whilst still making it feel genuine is a tough feat for most established actors. But the energy and sweetness from Maia drips off the screen. Whatever happens to the film itself, the casting and design of the leads deserved to be commended.
3. The New Director at the helm.
Lastly, the most significant reason why fans should feel confident in Lilo & Stitch being good is the director they’ve chosen to make it happen. Dean Fleischer Camp is certainly not a household name, but his small body of work still manages to demonstrate every skill required to pull of the mammoth task of rebooting Lilo & Stitch.
Dean Fleischer Camp caught my, and many others, attention with the small 2021 release of ‘Marcel the Shell with shoes on’. This delightful film was a directorial debut for Camp but managed to land him an Oscar nomination in the process. It follows an amateur documentarian, who finds a small mollusc called Marcel living in his Airbnb. It sounds ridiculous, I know; but over the course of the film, you really start to feel empathy for this tiny snail. For Lilo & Stitch, his task isn’t too dissimilar, can you make us feel for this CG character, despite his quirks. If he can make me feel that way for a small snail, then I have zero doubt in his ability to create a similar set of emotions for Stitch. At the end of the day the emotion is what makes the original so beautiful. The feeling of family and commitment to family, no matter what that looks like is such a strong and profound theme in the original. From the director to the cast, they seem to have everything they need to pull it off.
So, there are the three main reasons I think fans can start to get excited for Disney’s Lilo & Stitch remake. Are you still concerned or are you all set for when the remake comes to screens on the 23rd of May? Let us know below and follow along here for more updates on the film.
