I watched the live remake of Lilo and Stitch, and it was okay: however I missed the music (where were the Elvis tunes?) and although there were lots of chase scenes and scenes of Stitch destroying things, there were few scenes showing how Lilo bonded with Stitch by playing with him.
But the backstory was the problems of her older sister trying to keep the family together and how child protection agency types kept recommending that she give up custody, send her sister to unknown foster parents: essentially breaking the only family tie that a traumatized Lilo has that is giving her some stability to her life.
So anyway, the movie was okay. Until the end.
All through the movie the theme was family means not letting anyone behind (and Stitch was adopted as part of that family).
And indeed in the original cartoon, the ending the family remains intact:
The original animated film grants Lilo’s family a happy-ever-after, ending with Nani, Lilo and Stitch finding peace together, bolstered by a new support system of aliens and humans.
In the new movie, at the end, after insisting that family means never leaving anyone behind, the older sister promptly says good bye to Lilo attend college in the mainland, leaving her sister to the mercy of the foster care system, with a new character, not related nor known to Lilo.
Wait: Did I misremember the original ending?
Apparently not, as this Forbes article notes:
Nani is no longer taking care of her sister. Given that the original film (and the remake) very much emphasizes the importance of keeping families together with the phrase “no one gets left behind,” this struck many viewers as a cold attempt at a happy ending.
fans pointed out that there was something dark about Nani’s future career being placed above her care of Lilo, a strangely cold ending with a glossy, “girlboss” spin.
,,,,
Remember in #LiloandStitch where Nani cared for Lilo very much and used every strength of her being to protect her and did anything keep her happy?
— ChelseatheCartoonGal (@CartoonGal1) May 23, 2025
Yeah in the live action remake she just leaves for college and the neighbors take Lilo in pic.twitter.com/J8ibGbgnLB
Now, I live in the Philippines, and it is common here for people to sacrifice their ambitions for the good of the family: many of our OFW do so to support the family they left behind.
and even in the USA, there are 40 million caregivers who sacrifice time and often have to change or limit their jobs to help their relaives (and sometimes friends)
Such sacrifices should be admired:
Ironically, as some in the Forbes article point out, the sister could have taken the same college training locally with scholarships for the indigenous, and probably arrange grants/welfare payments/loans so she could bring her sister with her, the ending is especially cold hearted.
In other words, the woke ending not only ignores the lessons of the original story, that one never leaves one's family behind, but ignores the cultural lessons that could be learned from Polynesian culture, about the importance of family ties.
I should add: Foster care is often needed to protect children: however, newer policies have been instituted so that these children can stay with family members where their family ties and cultural background is protected, even if the family is not as rich as the usually white social workers prefer.
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