Lilo & Stitch (2025) - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray SteelBook

To say the results of Disney’s constant need to remake their animated treasures into live-action features have been “iffy” is something of an understatement. What started with a title or two here and there has become a mainstay event of the studio, picking away at their true classics, often leaving soulless husks in their path (Pinocchio, Snow White, Dumbo). On top of being unnecessary, the problems with these films often come from what they’re adding and subtracting. The material they take away is often some of the best pieces of the original animated films, and it’s replaced with pointless, knuckleheaded updates that annoy rather than inspire. For example, The Little Mermaid did not need to be over two hours long just to expand Eric’s character. Snow White didn't benefit from a trite opening "origin" song, nor Gal Gadot's misfired attempts at high camp to expand the Evil Queen. 

After the tragic execution and release of Snow White, Disney more or less got it right with Lilo & Stitch. Did you see the 2002 animated original? Do you remember it well? Good, because you’re getting pretty much the same movie all over again with some very slight alterations. Stitch (Chris Sanders returns as the voice) is still a multi-legged alien menace. Lilo (now played by Maia Kealoha) is still a precocious little tot who just needs a friend in the wake of the death of her parents. Nani (now played by Sydney Agudong) is still the struggling big sister trying to make their life work, but now she’s given the added dimension of passing on her education dreams for the sake of Lilo. Alien hunters Jumba and Pleakey are now sometimes CGI aliens or disguised as humans, Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen, respectively. All small deviations from the original, but one that works for this retelling. 

What doesn’t quite work as well are some of the changes to the dramatic anchor of the film. Mixing up the ingredients for our social worker, previously voiced by Ving Rhames, Tia Carrere is now Mrs Kekoa, working on Nani and Lilo’s case file. Cobra Bubbles is now a CIA undercover agent, but instead of Rhames, we have a solid turn from Courtney B. Vance. Mixed in with this is the friendly neighbor, Tutu (Amy Hill), who doesn’t get a whole lot to do until the end. For the sake of spoilers, I’m being intentionally vague about how this film hits the concluding notes. In the original film, it’s an emotional gut punch that still tugs the heartstrings to this day. For this new edition, and how they’ve mixed up some character dynamics, that final impact just doesn’t stick the emotional landing. It’s a nice finale, it works, but the weight of the moment feels absent. There’s also the absence of a major alien character of the original film that I imagine would just be too difficult to make work for this rendition (I'm neutral on this change, but some were quite pissed about it). 

Overall, I was surprised to see that Lilo & Stitch worked as well as it did in live-action. Admitting bias, it’s not as great as the 2002 animated original, but for newcomers (i.e., children), I imagine this will create some memories. After Snow White, this is the kind of palette cleanser that Disney needed at the box office. I still don’t see much point in these updates to live-action, especially at the expense of creating exciting new original content, but Lilo & Stitch is a proving point that when done with care and attention, an update can work. Similar to this year's How to Train Your Dragon, we didn’t need a live-action update, but we got one, and it was pretty damn good and worth the time. 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
On 4K UHD Lilo & Stitch invades our home video collections with a two-disc 4k UHD + Blu-ray + Digital release from Disney. The 4K is pressed on a BD66 disc with a BD50 serving 1080p. The discs are housed in a sleek SteelBook package with artwork that’s very on-brand for Stitch. The discs load into Disney’s standard system, which allows you to choose your language before proceeding to the film or navigating to the animated main menu.

Making the jump to real life (mostly), Lilo & Stitch earns high marks with a crisp, colorful Dolby Vision transfer. Given the mashup of real-life humans and sets, and a lot of CGI creatures, I was impressed by how well these elements blended together. Even the fully CGI elements, such as the alien High Council's main ship and the range of digital creature creations, held an impressive sense of weight and detail. A lot of work went into giving Stitch a realistic head of fur, even though you’d have to be pretty stupid to think that critter was a dog. There are a couple of iffy shots that don’t quite measure up under scrutiny, but that's a small nitpick. Overall, the facial features of our human cast, along with the clothing patterns and set details, all look great. The Dolby Vision grade enhances the Hawaiian lifestyle of our cast, allowing the rich primaries to shine while providing strong contrast highlights for bright whites and deep blacks. After the artificial and somewhat cheap-looking nature of some of these Disney remakes, it was nice to see a world that actually looks lived-in and real.

Treating the film well is the Dolby Atmos track. Similar to the original animated film, there’s a splendid blend of sonic elements that effectively utilizes the entire soundscape. From the opening escape sequence to Stitch terrorizing a wedding party to the big intergalactic finale, the channel spread is immersive. At times, the mix feels more front-center channel-focused, but whenever mischief ensues, the side, rear, and height channels are prioritized. While I thought the Elvis tunes could have received a little more attention and been delivered with a bit more punch and swagger, respectively, of the King, the great score from Dan Romer is a nice contrast to the original Alan Silvestri score. Action beats explode the soundscape nicely - the portal guns are an especially fun touch, and a few hits delivered some intense vertical audio action. 

While this film is marked as the highest-grossing flick of 2025 (from the U.S.), that honor doesn’t extend to the bonus features. What is being passed off as supplementary material from Disney these days barely clocks in at just over half an hour of content. What’s here is okay, but it’s not very enlightening, no depth to any given aspect of the production, and even the primary 16-minute making-of just feels more like back-patting promotional content than a true deep look at what it took to bring the animated family favorite to live action. 

• Ohana Means Family: Making Lilo & Stitch (HD 16:33)
• Drawn to Life (HD 6:54)
• Scenes with Stitch (HD 6:10)
• Deleted Scenes (HD 1:56)

After so many heartless remake efforts from Disney, Lilo & Stitch is the rarity for the mouse house that actually kinda works. I mean, it’s not as exciting or as emotionally effective as the animated original, but this is pretty good. It made some sensible changes, while I felt that other story choices undercut some of the dramatic beats. Stitch is still a stitch. The film was fun and engaging, which is more than I can say for a number of Disney’s live-action remakes in the last few years. On 4K UHD, the film picks up an impressive Dolby Vision/Atmos package. Not a stress-tester for your home theater setup, but still a very good transfer and a great audio mix. Bonus features are something of a letdown, but not altogether shocking. At the end of the day, I can call this one Recommended - even if I’m far more likely to watch the original going forward.