‘Lilo & Stitch’ director defends huge change in ending

Spoilers for the film

Director of the Lilo & Stitch adaptation Dean Fleischer Camp sat down for an interview with Variety where he defended his choice for the film’s ending.

In the original animated film, Lilo, an orphan, and Stitch, her alien friend, end up staying with her older sister and guardian, Nani.

In the adaptation, Nani leaves Lilo to live with their neighbours in Hawaii while she goes off to pursue a college education in mainland USA, which viewers have hugely criticized.

Camp remarked, “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. 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.”

“We wanted to expand the meaning of ohana [a Hawaiian word for family and community], and ground it in traditional Hawaiian values of collectivism, extended family and community,” he explained further.

“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,” Camp noted. “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.’”

The creator 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.”

“A lot of Hawaiians who’ve seen the film have picked up on that reference to hanai, and they love that. 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,” he concluded.

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