Ohana means family, unless you’re the live-action Lilo & Stitch, where “ohana” is really more of a suggestion than anything else.
Disney’s live-action remake of the beloved animated film about Lilo (Maia Kealoha), a spirited Hawaiian girl who builds an unlikely family with a troublemaking alien named Stitch, is now in theaters, and it’s already sparking serious backlash.
(Warning: spoilers ahead.)
Why are fans up in arms? Disney changed the ending, erasing the original’s heart: Nani hands her sister over to the state.
Let us explain.
In the original film, Lilo lives with her sister Nani after their parents die in a car crash driving home one stormy night. However, Nani struggles to keep up with her troublemaking sister. When Stitch comes into their lives and causes even more chaos, a social worker threatens to place Lilo in foster care, believing Nani can’t handle it.
At the end of the original film, after going on an intergalactic adventure, Nani stays Lilo’s guardian, joined by Stitch and his alien pals, who all become one giant untraditional family.
This heartfelt storyline is the emotional core of the animated classic, which is why fans are absolutely losing it over Disney’s decision to mess with the ending.
In this version, the social worker convinces Nani (Sydney Agudong) she’s not cut out to be Lilo’s guardian, and so, their neighbor Tūtū (Amy Hill) becomes Lilo’s foster parent while Nani heads off to college to study marine biology.
Although it may be a more “realistic” ending, people think the change ruins what made the animated version so great—the dynamic between the sisters.
Not to mention, this change also undercuts the emotional power of a huge scene from the original film where the social worker almost takes Lilo away.
Stitch watches the heartbreak unfold and realizes that Lilo and Nani’s pain mirrors his own desperation for family. Ultimately, this realization makes the little blue alien decide that he wants to be a part of their family.
“That was the whole point of the original movie!! They completely destroyed the meaning of this movie 😭," one person wrote on X, commenting on the scene in question.
All in all, it’s fine to change things up for a live action adaptation. However, in the case of Lilo & Stitch, the consensus from fans is that Disney made the wrong choice.
