Lilo & Stitch live-action director responds to backlash after making shock change to ending

Daily Mail​

09-06-2025

The director of Disney's Lilo & Stitch remake has broken his silence after a major change to the film's beloved ending left fans outraged.
Dean Fleischer Camp, 41, came under fire after altering the emotional finale of the 2002 animated classic for the live-action remake, which sparked claims that the new version 'misses the point' of the original.
At the end of the updated live-action film, Lilo's older sister Nani gives custody of the youngster to her neighbor and leaves Hawaii to go to college.
She leaves to pursue her dream of studying marine biology at UC San Diego and hands over Lilo's care to a family friend named Tūtū.
For fans who grew up with the original, the change came as a shock.
Many accused Disney of ruining the story's iconic message: Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind.
Now, Camp has addressed criticism in an interview with Variety, saying: 'I've had some time to think about this.'
'I do think that a fair amount of the people who are dunking on that premise have not actually seen the movie, and they write me stuff that is clearly wrong,' Camp told the outlet.
At the end of the updated live-action film, Lilo's older sister Nani gives custody of the youngster to her neighbor and leaves Hawaii to go to college
'They get the beats of the story wrong. But when you see [it], it doesn't feel that way at all, and you see the intent of the actual filmmaking.'
Despite fans arguing the story's message was lost, Camp said the goal of the ending was to 'expand the meaning.'
'We wanted to expand the meaning of ohana, and ground it in traditional Hawaiian values of collectivism, extended family and community,' he detailed.
'Chris [Sanders, a co-creator of the original film and collaborator on the new one], who's Hawaiian, made a really important observation about the original early on in our discussions.
'He didn't buy that the two orphan sisters would just be left to fend for themselves.
'He said, "Neighbors, church groups, aunties and uncles, all these people would step in. That's just the Hawaii I know and grew up in."'
Camp added: 'That led him to create this character of Tutu, and she ultimately takes Lilo in as hanai, which is this culturally specific term and tradition that is a form of informal adoption.
'It isn't about blood or paperwork, but love and responsibility for the greater good and for one's community.'
The director argued that many Hawaiians who had seen the film enjoyed what they did with the movie.
'A lot of Hawaiians who've seen the film have picked up on that reference to hanai, and they love that,' said Camp.
'It's this uniquely Hawaiian answer to the question of who shows up when things fall apart, and that idea of informal adoption.
'It shows the broader community's willingness to sacrifice and do whatever it takes for these girls and for their ohana.'
However, he said he is still aware of the many viewers who are unhappy with the conclusion.
'I think you can't satisfy everyone with these remakes,' Camp argued.
'You are treading on hallowed ground when you make one of these because these are films people grew up with, and I'm one of them, and I totally understand it.'
Camp continued, saying he and the team 'didn't want to just restage the beats of the original film.'
'We wanted to tell a story that's honest about what it means to lose everything and still find a way forward,' he said.
'People do get left behind, like what Nani says, this is, and it's incumbent upon the community to make sure that they aren't forgotten.'
In May, before the movie hit theaters, users also fumed after learning Captain Gantu - the main antagonist in the 2002 cartoon - was not going to appear in the live-action remake.
Upon hearing this news, many outraged fans claimed they were going to boycott the remake.
In addition, fans were upset over the news that alien Pleakley wouldn't dress like a woman in the live-action movie.
Throughout their journey to try to get Stitch back, Jumba and Pleakley wear disguises in an attempt to try to look human and blend in with everyone around them - and in the original, Pleakley, who is male, opts to wear a dress, and women's wig.
But in the new version, that doesn't happen.
Camp previously explained that Jumba and Pleakley, played by Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen respectively, don't put human clothes and wigs on at all in the live-action remake, so there actually wasn't a chance for Pleakley to dress up as a woman like he did in the animated flick.
Instead, he explained that they use technology to morph themselves into humans.
He added that he and his team did 'some tests and some character design work' to try to make Jumba and Pleakley look like they did in the original, but it just didn't work.
Ultimately, he said they decided it was 'a bridge too far' and that it didn't translate well into live-action.
'The humor of them walking around Hawaii dressed in these terrible disguises where Pleakley still has one eyeball, it's a little harder to buy in live action,' he said.
The director added that 'budgets' also played a part in the decision.
'If you have Jumba and Pleakley in alien disguises, then you're going to have to shortchange how much development work you can do on Stitch and these other elements,' he continued.
'It's not that they're aliens in the movie. You definitely see Jumba and Pleakley in their alien forms through a lot of the movie, but they are in human skin suits for part of it.'