As the notable line goes, "Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten... when it comes to receiving the Disney live-actio
As the notable line goes, “Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten… when it comes to receiving the Disney live-action treatment.” That’s right, folks — we’ve marvelled at Elliot in Pete’s Dragon, gawped at Beauty & The Beast‘s titular furry fella, witnessed photorealistic Simba in The Lion King, and… well… you get the idea! Now, it’s noughties banger Lilo & Stitch‘s turn to go from drawn to life, guided by the Oscar nominated filmmaker behind Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, Dean Fleischer Camp. And while we’ve only had a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimpses at what Camp and co have been working on up til now, today we got our first proper look at Stitch in all his live-action (well, CG-assisted) glory. Check out the up-to-date teaser trailer for the movie below:
Behold, Stitch! He’s mischievous, he’s a menace, he’s blue, he’s incredibly lifelike, and — but of course! — he’s also cute and fluffy. Sure, this is merely a thirty-second clip in which Experiment 626 stumbles upon a distinctly Disney-looking castle at the beach and decides to go full Godzilla-descending-upon-Tokyo on it, but seeing our favourite lil’ early 00s Disney guy go full kaiju and let out a classic, Chris Sanders voiced cackle is enough to give us all the good vibes. The Uncanny Valley seems to have been averted, Camp’s canny sense for physical comedy and animated elements interacting with the real world look to be fully intact, and those final moment strains of ‘Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride’ are just irresistible.
While this little teaser only shows off the Stitch half of the titular lively duo (boo!), we do know who’s also aboard to facilitate Camp adapt Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders’ classic Hawaiian-girl-and-her-mutant-experiment-alien-fugitive-dog tale. Leading the line-up are Maia Kealoha as Lilo, Sydney Elizebeth Agudong as Nani, and Kaipot Dudoit as David Kawena. And they’ll be joined by Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, Courtney B. Vance and Hannah Waddingham in as-yet-undisclosed roles (though we have everything crossed for a Galifianakis and Magnussen Jumba/Pleakley combo), alongside original voice actors Tia Carrere, Amy Hill, Jason Scott Lee, and the aforementioned Sanders.
With the live-action How To Train Your Dragon trailer dropping just last week, Mufasa: The Lion King just weeks away, and many, many more Disney live-action remakes in the pipeline, it looks like the trend of taking beloved animations and quite literally bringing them into a whole up-to-date dimension is going nowhere. But based on present evidence, early signs for Dean Fleischer Camp’s Hawaiian sci-fi adventure suggest that this is definitely one we can allow ourselves to get a little hyped for already. There is no place we’d rather be… than in the cinema watching Lilo & Stitch on 23 May, 2025!
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