Warning: Contains SPOILERS for 2025’s Lilo & Sтιтch!

Disney’s live-action Lilo & Sтιтch remake made a lot of controversial changes to the 2002 animated classic, and while Nani’s changes have been the subject of a lot of discussion, many viewers missed one of the most important changes to her story. The 2025 version of Nani is incredibly different from her 2002 counterpart, with her having different motivations and a different conclusion at the end of Lilo & Sтιтch. While this ending has upset many, one change from much earlier in the Lilo & Sтιтch remake signaled the strange path that the film was going down.

While 2025’s Lilo & Sтιтch is faithful to the original when compared to the other Disney live-action remakes, it still makes a lot of changes. Unfortunately, almost all of these changes are for the worse. Many of the changes surround the character of Jumba, who becomes the main villain of the film. Other characters, like Tutu and the social worker, are either given bigger roles or completely added, while original movie characters like Captian Gantu are completely cut. However, Nani giving Lilo away to her neighbors at the end of the film is the remake’s most controversial decision, but it isn’t the only controversial one.

Nani Takes Lilo To Adopt Sтιтch In The Original Movie (But She Isn’t Involved In The Remake)

She Does It Because She Loves Lilo

One of the most shocking changes in the live-action Lilo & Sтιтch remake has to do with Nani’s involvement in the adoption of Sтιтch. In the original film, Lilo is incredibly lonely. When Sтιтch crashes on Earth, Lilo believes that it is a shooting star, with her praying for a friend. Nani overhears this, with her deciding to take action. The next day, Nani takes Lilo to the animal shelter. She agrees to let Lilo adopt a dog, hoping to fulfill Lilo’s wish. This is where Lilo meets Sтιтch, with the sisters choosing to adopt him, leading to the rest of the movie.

Things go down very differently in the remake. In the 2025 film, Lilo still prays for a friend after seeing the shooting star. However, this is not connected to Lilo’s adoption of Sтιтch. Instead, Tutu, the neighbor of Nani and Lilo, later overhears Lilo talking about needing a friend. So, Tutu decides to take Lilo to the animal shelter. While with Tutu, Lilo adopts Sтιтch. She takes Sтιтch home, surprising Nani with their new dog. Nani is incredibly unhappy about Sтιтch’s adoption, although she eventually warms up to him by the end of the film.

Nani Not Being Involved In Sтιтch’s Adoption Takes Away From Her Love Of Lilo

It Makes Their Relationship Weaker

The decision to not have Nani be involved in Sтιтch’s adoption is an odd one, as it takes away a layer from her love of Lilo. In the original film, Nani is attempting to secretly answer Lilo’s prayer. This shows how much she cares about her sister, as she recognizes that Lilo is lonely and actively tries to fix this problem. Nani is already incredibly busy, with her having to work and take care of Lilo. Getting a dog would undoubtedly add to her stress. However, Nani still decides to do this anyway, because she loves Lilo.

By not having Nani make the decision to get Lilo a dog, this layer of love is removed. Nani’s frustrations with Sтιтch don’t mean as much anymore. She was previously putting up with these frustrations because of her love for Lilo, whereas she now just has to deal with them because she has been saddled with an unwanted dog. This is a bizarre choice, one that does a disservice to Nani and Lilo’s relationship in a film that purports to be more focused on it than the original was.

Tutu Taking Nani’s Role Makes The Controversial Ending Make More Sense

Based On The Controversial Ending

Although this change is undoubtedly a bad one, it does set up Lilo & Sтιтch‘s controversial ending in a way. Since Tutu makes the decision to get Lilo a dog, it shows that she does really love her. It is odd for her to sign Nani up to take care of a dog, but nevertheless, it shows that she cares about Lilo. So, it makes sense for her to be the one that Nani leaves Lilo with when she goes to college. It still doesn’t work as an ending, and it would be hard to make this ending work no matter what. However, it is at least a positive in favor on the Lilo & Sтιтch remake.