The latest promotional spot for Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch made its debut during Super Bowl LIX. It features the feral, blue alien running rampant on a football field, sewing seeds of chaos everywhere he goes.
I know we’re getting swamped with live-action versions of animated favorites, and only more are coming (Snow White arrives in March; Moana sets sail in 2026), but Lilo & Stitch feels like one of the few worthy of spinning in such a way.
Maybe not all of us have been on board, and the teaser released last November made Stitch look more like a demonic menace than the more adorable version we got in the animated movie. Still, something in the original feels more interesting to explore in the live-action format. I get that’s an unpopular opinion, but add to that Dean Fleischer Camp – the mind behind the lovely Marcel the Shell with Shoes On – directing, and Disney might actually have a winner here. As with the 2002 version, Lilo & Stitch follows the friendship between a Hawaiian orphan and a mischievous alien.
At the same time, it’s hard to argue against the fact that it does look as if Disney is going back to the well. And with such a steady stream of remakes, they’re going to eventually run out of their animated classics to pull from. We all know they’ve already mapped out when the live-action Raya and the Last Dragon hits theaters…(But seriously, bring on Atlantis: The Lost Empire.)
The live-action Lilo & Stitch stars newcomer Maia Kealoha as Lilo Pelekai, while Chris Sanders—who not only voiced Stitch in the original movie and its various spin-offs but also co-wrote and directed it—returns as the alien experiment. Other notable cast members include Zach Galifianakis, Tia Carrere, Hannah Waddingham, Courtney B. Vance, and Sydney Agudong. Lilo & Stitch arrives on May 23rd, 13 years after the original.
Stitch was also seen after the coin toss, causing complete chaos on the field—thankfully, it was a pre-recorded scene.
What did you think of the Lilo & Stitch Super Bowl spot? Will you be checking it out? Does it have a shot at changing our perception of Disney’s latest trend?
