FA+
Shop
Defending the Lilo & Stitch 2025 Remake Ending (Spoilers)
3 months ago
Hi there
Okay, here's my counterpoint to these two big issues the internet is raising about the Lilo & Stitch 2025 remake.
1. Gantu being removed and Jumba becoming the main villain
I understand why Gantu was removed. It was mostly because of the budget of the movie, and they didn't want to make a complete scene-by-scene remake of the original, so the only other character that could be used as a villain, and that made more sense for the plot of the movie, was Jumba. I have no issues with this change, it makes more sense in a realistic setting, and let's be honest, Jumba should have gone back to jail by the end of the animated film, cause he is a convicted criminal, and they just let him stay on earth with Stitch? that shouldn't have happened in a real-life setting.
But I could see how they could change that in a sequel, and let's be honest, the remake has made a ton of money already, so it's more likely that a sequel is already in the works. They could bring Gantu back in as a bounty hunter since that's how he ended up becoming in the series, and they could bring back Jumba and give him a proper redemption arc for the sequel.
2. Nani is leaving for college by the end of the movie.
This is the one that the internet has the biggest issues with, and what makes it worse, everyone is posting this online without the context of what happened. First, Nani did not give up Lilo; they are still together by the end of the movie, and Second, it did not ruin the message of Ohana, don't get me wrong, family is important to have, but you have to make sure you are happy within your family and can follower your dreams even if it means you have to leave your family for a bit.
This is a different Nani than her animated counterpart. This Nani is younger and has not gone through college; the animated version of her is older, and based on the series, she has already gone through college. So the animated version was more capable of taking care of her, but even in the animated film still shows it's not an easy thing to do.
I'm sorry to say this, but the ending of the animated film would never have happened in real life, so I'm sorry the live-action remake took a more realistic approach to the ending, but what they should have done in this format couse you could get away with a lot with animation but in a realistic setting you can't do that.
Let's try to clear up some other things about this ending.
First, the Neighbor taking guardianship over Lilo, the movie made it clear that this neighbor is more grandmotherly and genuinely cares for both Nani and Lilo, even moving into their house (after it got repaired) so they could still keep their home.
Second, Lilo told Nani to go to college, which is another thing that everyone is leaving out, cause Lilo knew Nani wanted to go to college to study marine biology, so it's nice that Lilo gave Nani her blessing to go.
Third, they have a Freking Portal Gun!!! In the mid-credit scene, it is shown that Nani is using a portal gun that was established early on in the movie to visit Lilo whenever she wants, while she is away at college, and yeah, everyone is pointing out why Nani didn't go to the one in Hawaii rather than the one in California all I could say she didn't want to go to that one or a writing error in the script.
Overall, was this a perfect movie? No. Was this a fun, enjoyable movie? Yes, and at least the two title characters, Lilo & Stitch, are done well, and all the scenes with Lilo and/or Stitch were great, but I'll admit that scenes without them did fall a little flat. If you didn't like the movie, that's fine, but it's no excuse to go online and attack people who did enjoy the movie, or to give out misinformation and try to paint this movie in a bad light.
Cause remake and reboot are going to happen whether you want to or not, you need to accept that and move on, and you could still enjoy the original stuff.
1. Gantu being removed and Jumba becoming the main villain
I understand why Gantu was removed. It was mostly because of the budget of the movie, and they didn't want to make a complete scene-by-scene remake of the original, so the only other character that could be used as a villain, and that made more sense for the plot of the movie, was Jumba. I have no issues with this change, it makes more sense in a realistic setting, and let's be honest, Jumba should have gone back to jail by the end of the animated film, cause he is a convicted criminal, and they just let him stay on earth with Stitch? that shouldn't have happened in a real-life setting.
But I could see how they could change that in a sequel, and let's be honest, the remake has made a ton of money already, so it's more likely that a sequel is already in the works. They could bring Gantu back in as a bounty hunter since that's how he ended up becoming in the series, and they could bring back Jumba and give him a proper redemption arc for the sequel.
2. Nani is leaving for college by the end of the movie.
This is the one that the internet has the biggest issues with, and what makes it worse, everyone is posting this online without the context of what happened. First, Nani did not give up Lilo; they are still together by the end of the movie, and Second, it did not ruin the message of Ohana, don't get me wrong, family is important to have, but you have to make sure you are happy within your family and can follower your dreams even if it means you have to leave your family for a bit.
This is a different Nani than her animated counterpart. This Nani is younger and has not gone through college; the animated version of her is older, and based on the series, she has already gone through college. So the animated version was more capable of taking care of her, but even in the animated film still shows it's not an easy thing to do.
I'm sorry to say this, but the ending of the animated film would never have happened in real life, so I'm sorry the live-action remake took a more realistic approach to the ending, but what they should have done in this format couse you could get away with a lot with animation but in a realistic setting you can't do that.
Let's try to clear up some other things about this ending.
First, the Neighbor taking guardianship over Lilo, the movie made it clear that this neighbor is more grandmotherly and genuinely cares for both Nani and Lilo, even moving into their house (after it got repaired) so they could still keep their home.
Second, Lilo told Nani to go to college, which is another thing that everyone is leaving out, cause Lilo knew Nani wanted to go to college to study marine biology, so it's nice that Lilo gave Nani her blessing to go.
Third, they have a Freking Portal Gun!!! In the mid-credit scene, it is shown that Nani is using a portal gun that was established early on in the movie to visit Lilo whenever she wants, while she is away at college, and yeah, everyone is pointing out why Nani didn't go to the one in Hawaii rather than the one in California all I could say she didn't want to go to that one or a writing error in the script.
Overall, was this a perfect movie? No. Was this a fun, enjoyable movie? Yes, and at least the two title characters, Lilo & Stitch, are done well, and all the scenes with Lilo and/or Stitch were great, but I'll admit that scenes without them did fall a little flat. If you didn't like the movie, that's fine, but it's no excuse to go online and attack people who did enjoy the movie, or to give out misinformation and try to paint this movie in a bad light.
Cause remake and reboot are going to happen whether you want to or not, you need to accept that and move on, and you could still enjoy the original stuff.
For 1: This isn't a defense of the movie. Budget should not be a concern for Disney. Nor should they force Jumba to be the villain at the cost of his character development. Realism is not inherently a good thing, and this movie is still far from realistic.
For 2: This whole could have been avoided if they just didn't make Nani not go through college. That was an insanely pointless change that offers no benefit to the movie's overall story or themes.
All in all, I'm frankly disappointed you see the need to defend this trainwreck of a movie.
1. All movies have to have a budget and it doesn't matter if Disney is providing the money cause once a movie is greenlet and a budget is set you have to make the movie within the budget that is given and I'm sorry Gantu was just too big of a character to fit within the budget of the film. Honestly, I should have said logical instead of realistic when I was talking about Jumba cause I know the movie is unrealistic I was just saying since they couldn't use Gantu, Jumba was the most logical choice for the plot of this kind of movie.
2. So you think Nani shouldn't have any kind of hopes and dreams of bettering herself and her family cause last time I checked there were a lot of high-paying jobs within marine biology that would have helped support her family and give her and Lilo a better chance of staying together.
You don't like the movie, I get that and you gave your opinion and points as to why you don't like it and I will respect that but you have also have to respect other people that did like the movie. Cause at the end of the day it's just a movie and we all have different views on what is good or bad movie.
I dunno I still think this remake could've ended up worse. It ended up being better than the other Live Action Disney Remake. Probably on par with 101 Dalmatians where it stands with me.
For me though, while I'm willing to get the remake on bluray as it is a serviceable movie, I'm going to stick with watching the original.