The new Lilo & Sтιтch expands on an underappreciated Disney character, leading to a different conclusion to their story. 2025’s Lilo & Sтιтch‘s reviews have been largely positive, highlighting how it maintains the heart of the original movie while allowing for changes that deepen certain characters, driven by the lively portrayals of Lilo (Maia Kealoha), Nani (Sydney Agudong), and those who are close to them. Maia Kealoha has especially been praised for her performance as the quirky six-year-old who becomes best friends with the chaotic alien Sтιтch (Chris Sanders).
Lilo & Sтιтch‘s ending features some significant changes from the original but is still intended to emphasize the theme of family enduring through hard times. Lilo & Sтιтch also possibly sets up a sequel, which could draw upon all the animated Lilo & Sтιтch movies and TV shows that followed the 2002 flagship installment, which introduced the world to the beloved figures of Lilo and Sтιтch. However, the new movie gives more attention than ever before to Nani, Lilo’s older sister, who was always one of the best characters in Disney’s roster.
The New Lilo & Sтιтch Shows Appreciation For Nani’s Character Throughout Her Iterations
Nani’s Portrayal Is For Her Animated Version Too
The Lilo & Sтιтch remake adheres to the core story, where Lilo and Nani have lost their parents in an accident, and Nani is struggling to prove to social services that she is a suitable guardian for Lilo. Nani is 18 to 19 years old and is really an unsung hero of Disney’s line-up, having taken on a huge responsibility so Lilo would not have to leave home, and they could keep the family together after their parents’ deaths. It was always an admirable choice for Nani to make, and the animated movie at least conveys that she is overwhelmed with work and childcare.
How Nani comforts Lilo in difficult emotional moments becomes very wise and motherly.
However, the new movie spends a little more time on the life Nani might be living if she weren’t acting as Lilo’s caregiver. She was offered a full scholarship to UCSD to study marine biology before her parents died and has deferred this opportunity to stay home with her sister. Characters around her tell her she has to take care of herself as well. Ultimately, the movie is leading up to Nani getting help with raising Lilo, an option she might not have had in the animated iteration, something that 2025’s remake is somewhat aware of.
Nani Did Remain Lilo’s Parent In The Animated Version, & We Saw Years Of This Experience
Nani Became A Full-Time Parent
The animated Lilo & Sтιтch movie ends with Nani continuing to raise Lilo, after the Grand Councilwoman allows them to keep Sтιтch, meaning that Cobra Bubbles will oversee the family as they care for the exiled alien. Everything works out as Nani is still Lilo’s guardian, narrowly avoiding Lilo being taken away by the state, while their family expands to include Jumba and Pleakley, However, there is also a lot more content after that also offers pᴀssing glimpses of what this life is like for Nani in the long run.
With time and practice, Nani gets better at the things that might have been social services’ main concerns when it came to her taking care of Lilo, and Lilo comes to respect Nani more as a parent. How Nani comforts Lilo in difficult emotional moments becomes very wise and motherly. However, Nani’s arc is largely stagnant, and there are just a lot of moments that remind the audience she is always busy. She is trying to keep the house in order as aliens trample through it, is working, and often brushes off dates with David because she doesn’t have the time.
Tia Carrere Returns To Lilo & Sтιтch To Bring Nani’s Story Full Circle
The Original Nani Plays An Important Role
In addition to implicitly showing more appreciation for the long-term responsibilities Nani deals with in the animated storyline, the live-action Lilo & Sтιтch brings back Tia Carrere, Nani’s original voice actor. In the new movie, Carrere plays the Pelekai sisters’ social worker Mrs. Kekoa, while the Cobra Bubbles character (Courtney B. Vance) is just a CIA agent investigating the family’s acquisition of a dog that is obviously not a dog. Mrs. Kekoa interacts with Nani differently, although the threat of Lilo being taken away is still real.
Nani still gave it her all in being Lilo’s caregiver, but was ultimately pushed into giving up guardianship.
The metatextuality of the original Nani’s return is in service of slightly altering the character’s story. The conclusion that the movie comes to is that Nani is not ready to be a full-time parent, and both she and Lilo will be happier if they can go back to just being sisters. It’s supposed to be made easier by the fact that it is a version of Nani who is the primary voice telling her this. The new movie’s ending almost works better because it acknowledges that in another world, Nani did this for the long haul, and that was a lot for a 19-year-old.
2025’s Lilo & Sтιтch Shows Nani Getting The Life She Always Deserved, In A World Where She Had More Support
Nani Gets More Time For Herself
So, 2025’s Lilo & Sтιтch ends with Nani going to college after having been forced to give up custody of Lilo, but Lilo’s foster parent becomes neighbor and family friend Tūtū (Amy Hill), who is also Nani’s love interest David’s (Kaipo Dudoit) grandmother. Nani still gave it her all in being Lilo’s caregiver, but was ultimately pushed into giving up guardianship so the state would pay for medical bills after Lilo was hospitalized from the surfing accident. However, things still work out for the sisters because the new movie depicts them as having a better support system.
Namely, the implication in the original movie is that Lilo would just go into foster care and could end up anywhere because the Pelekais don’t have any extended family or close friends willing to become a guardian. Once Nani ironed out her daily routine, she could offer Lilo a good home life and prevent her from being uprooted. Live-action Nani gets a break after years of depicting her fully committed to the alternate scenario, which the new movie still implies that she would have done if things had gone differently.
The new ending is not perfect and has prompted criticism for how it disrupts the foundation of some of Lilo & Sтιтch‘s biggest themes. Thanks to an alien teleporter, Lilo and Nani can still see each other in person as often as they want, and Nani gets to have her own life. The new Lilo & Sтιтch depicts Lilo and Nani being a part of a bigger community that wouldn’t just leave them to figure this out on their own. But most of all, it delves into the sacrifices Nani made, and lets her have more freedom while still being a present big sister.
