Disney's live-action remake of the beloved Lilo & Stitch was a surprisingly fun adaptation of the animated classic. However, while reviews were mostly positive overall, one major change in this new version has many fans frothing at the mouth.
While it takes very little imagination to get audiences riled these days, the film's departure from the original's ending has ignited a massive wave of backlash towards both the remake and The Walt Disney Company. But how much of this is actual controversy, and how much is mob mentality?
WARNING: Massive spoilers ahead for 2025's Lilo & Stitch!
Ohana means...
In the original film, Lilo, Nani, and Stitch are kept together at the end, their house is rebuilt, and the sisters are kept from being separated thanks to the Galactic Federation, cue Elvis cover and roll credits. That's all warm and fuzzy, but the new ending takes things in a much different direction.
In the 2025 remake, director Dean Fleischer-Camp steers things in much more realistic territory. From the get-go, Nani is in way over her head, and encounters with alien lifeforms don't exactly help her and her sister's situation get any easier. This happens in the original film as well, but with one major alteration.
The new ending has Nani complying with the social worker and agreeing to hand Lilo over to the state, essentially submitting and breaking up their Ohana. While this was met with an undeniably vocal uproar from fans, it's not the full story.
As with any Disney live-action remake, it didn't take long for the internet to launch an all-out hate campaign against the film, claiming that it was not only terrible, but spat in the face of the original's message of "no one gets left behind" as Nani leaves Lilo to go to college.
If that were what actually happened, the anger would be well-placed and Disney would be doing damage control. However, that's not what happens at all.
In the film, a different type of Ohana is brought to the forefront: community and found family. The social worker doesn't take Lilo; rather, she is adopted by Tutu, and both sisters are kept together thanks to their neighbor's aid and some stolen alien technology. Point being, their Ohana remains intact, just not in the same way as the original film.
Another element few people notice is that Nani is played significantly younger in this rendition of the story. From this writer's perspective, it seems like actress Sydney Agudong is playing Nani fresh out of high school, given the college letter. In the animated feature, Nani looked well into her early 20s. Given Fleischer-Camp's realistic lens, it makes sense that she would depend on her community for aid.
The film brings a sad truth to light, although caregivers like Nani have all the best intentions in the world, and they move mountains to make things happen, sometimes it's not enough. However, to say that she just throws Lilo to the state out of her own selfish choices is grossly untrue.
There's a lot to unpack both culturally and socially about the film's ending, but to say it goes against the message of Ohana is untrue. Nani doesn't throw Lilo away, and the sisters aren't separated at all. At the end of the day, Lilo is essentially adopted by grandma next door while her sister goes to college to make a better life for both of them.
In this writer's opinion, the hate this movie seems to be a product of mob mentality. It's getting hate because that's what everyone does when another live-action Disney adaptation debuts. People are upset because they didn't get the same feelings that the original film created. After all, it's an entirely different medium.
Is the remake as good as the original? Debatable, but it's certainly not worthy of this strange upset. In the words of Taylor Swift, haters gonna hate-hate-hate-hate-hate.
Lilo & Stitch is now playing in theaters everywhere!