Spoilers Lilo & Stitch live action

[Disney Irish]

I still see it as lazy storytelling for a needlessly contrived deus ex machina coda to a perfectly good ending.

And I appreciate that opinion, but it doesn't mean it violates the established rules of the portal gun which is what you claimed in your post. So lazy or not, its meant to represent a happy ending. And no different than many other fantasy tales told over the centuries.

 

[mf1972]

we watched it last night. although we thought the ending was a bit eh, the movie is overall solid & definitely 1 of the better live action remakes. on a side note, we also watched mission impossible…phenomenal.

 

[Phroobar]

In LaS25, Nani doesn’t even seem to want to go to college, except that choice gets constantly foisted upon her by Nosy Neighbor. And if she actually cares about marine biology, there is absolutely nothing in the movie to suggest it.

So what is wrong with Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii? It's one of the top Universities for that. It isn't even considered.

 

[Phroobar]

we watched it last night. although we thought the ending was a bit eh, the movie is overall solid & definitely 1 of the better live action remakes. on a side note, we also watched mission impossible…phenomenal.

Mission Impossible was pretty awesome. Falling to your death is pretty awesome when you have full 5G coverage in the middle of nowhere and in a canyon.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

So what is wrong with Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii? It's one of the top Universities for that. It isn't even considered.

She was offered a full scholarship at San Diego (so obviously it’s a goal because she applied.)

There would be no conflict in the movie on this subject if she went in Hawaii.

She was willing to keep sacrificing her young life to take care of her sister, but she really was failing.

So she could spend the next four years doing a poor job of taking care of her sister and struggling to just get by, possibly losing her to a random stranger, or she could attempt to make a better life after losing her parents, honor their wishes (again demonstrating it was a known goal) and Lilo lives with extended Ohana across the street from her home.

Lilo will be much better cared for in those 4 years. Big sisters often go away to college.

Sometimes the sacrifice is what’s best for the child, rather than what she really wanted, which was to stay with Lilo - much like when certain people give their kids up for adoption.

Imagine it had been written slightly differently:

Their home is destroyed. The three of them move in with the neighbor together. Two months later, she goes to college. The result is similar to if their parents were alive. Who would blame her then?

But it’s a clumsier ending for a movie. This is cleaner. People are seriously overreacting to it.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I wasn’t horrified by the ending or anything but I don’t really understand why they went out of their way to write in a need for Nani to give up custody and move hundreds of miles away. It would have been easy to have Nani refuse to give up custody (or, if she had to, to do it when she realized she couldn’t properly care for Lilo, not over a medical bill) and study at home. I guess I just don’t understand the point. Is the idea of a teen mom as end to a story arc just taboo in 2025?

 

[Disney Irish]

So what is wrong with Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii? It's one of the top Universities for that. It isn't even considered.

The whole movie shows she is struggling financially as she can't keep a job due to having to take care of Lilo and would require a scholarship in order to go to college at a any school whether a local school or one far away. Its something faced by many young working moms, which she essentially is. So unless Hawaii was offering such financial aid why would that be an immediate option.

 

[Disney Irish]

I wasn’t horrified by the ending or anything but I don’t really understand why they went out of their way to write in a need for Nani to give up custody and move hundreds of miles away. It would have been easy to have Nani refuse to give up custody (or, if she had to, to do it when she realized she couldn’t properly care for Lilo, not over a medical bill) and study at home. I guess I just don’t understand the point. Is the idea of a teen mom as end to a story arc just taboo in 2025?

A financially struggling teen mom is not taboo in 2025, and is the whole point of the updated story. As I explained in just the post above, going to university would require her to have a full scholarship no matter where she goes. And having to work and take care of Lilo would limit such schooling possibilities, as I don't see many Marine Biology programs having night classes no matter what university she went to. So the only way for her to realize her dream of going to school is to accept that she can't do it alone and must accept help.

 

[DisneyHead123]

A financially struggling teen mom is not taboo in 2025, and is the whole point of the updated story. As I explained in just the post above, going to university would require her to have a full scholarship no matter where she goes. And having to work and take care of Lilo would limit such schooling possibilities, as I don't see many Marine Biology programs having night classes no matter what university she went to. So the only way for her to realize her dream of going to school is to accept that she can't do it alone and must accept help.

I mean sure, but this is a fictional world. They could have said she got a full ride at a local school just as easily as one in California. There were no inherent plot constraints that made giving up custody and moving away an absolute necessity. Which makes it seem like a choice they felt was needed for whatever reason.

 

[Disney Irish]

I mean sure, but this is a fictional world. They could have said she got a full ride at a local school just as easily as one in California. There were no inherent plot constraints that made giving up custody and moving away an absolute necessity. Which makes it seem like a choice they felt was needed for whatever reason.

Ok, even if you say they could have said she got a full scholarship to the University of Hawaii, again we go back to the difficultly of having to raise a child and go to school at the same time, too heavy a topic for a Disney animated feature in my opinion. So that is likely the reason of her trying go to a local school wasn't used.

 

[Disney Irish]

I mean sure, but this is a fictional world. They could have said she got a full ride at a local school just as easily as one in California. There were no inherent plot constraints that made giving up custody and moving away an absolute necessity. Which makes it seem like a choice they felt was needed for whatever reason.

Also I just thought of this, the University of Hawaii is on O'ahu and Lilo and Stitch is set on Kauaʻi. So even if she got a full scholarship to the University of Hawaii she still wouldn't be able to do that and take care of Lilo as she'd still have to "go away" to school even if its the same state, as its not like its down the street.

Easier to tell a story to the audience when the distances are greater to establish the point of the plot.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Ok, even if you say they could have said she got a full scholarship to the University of Hawaii, again we go back to the difficultly of having to raise a child and go to school at the same time, too heavy a topic for a Disney animated feature in my opinion. So that is likely the reason of her trying go to a local school wasn't used.

In a fictional world where they can write whatever they want, some combination of the neighbor helping or moving in or even being granted custody while Nani studied was equally possible and easy.

Again, I wasn’t super upset by the ending. I think people calling it a message about colonization and the state are really overthinking it. But it did seem like a deliberate choice to show Nani as breaking away from her family, and I don’t know that this was necessary.

 

[Disney Irish]

In a fictional world where they can write whatever they want, some combination of the neighbor helping or moving in or even being granted custody while Nani studied was equally possible and easy.

Again, I wasn’t super upset by the ending. I think people calling it a message about colonization and the state are really overthinking it. But it did seem like a deliberate choice to show Nani as breaking away from her family, and I don’t know that this was necessary.

They would have had to change the location of the movie from Kauaʻi to O'ahu (a 73 mile difference) where the University of Hawaii is located in order for that to work, which would also have changed the dynamic of the movie in my opinion. As O'ahu is a larger island and not as "remote" as the movie setting they want to portray. As the one of the whole reasons its set in Kauaʻi and not O'ahu is Stitch's need to go to a large city as part of his "programming" for destruction. As shown at the beginning of the movie with them going around the island in a Barbie car trying to find a way for him to reach a large city. So that would completely change the whole film, too large of a change, one that would have had a huge backlash in my opinion.

This is some of the things writers/directors think of when setting up a plot of a movie. Things that many of us don't think about when we're talking about plot points that don't make sense in our minds, there is a larger reason why something wasn't chosen.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

In a fictional world where they can write whatever they want, some combination of the neighbor helping or moving in or even being granted custody while Nani studied was equally possible and easy.

Again, I wasn’t super upset by the ending. I think people calling it a message about colonization and the state are really overthinking it. But it did seem like a deliberate choice to show Nani as breaking away from her family, and I don’t know that this was necessary.

I just think it’s a happier ending for her.

And presuming a sequel, it sets up a different stage for the next one.

 

[DisneyHead123]

They would have had to change the location of the movie from Kauaʻi to O'ahu (a 73 mile difference) where the University of Hawaii is located in order for that to work, which would also have changed the dynamic of the movie in my opinion. As O'ahu is a larger island and not as "remote" as the movie setting they want to portray. As the one of the whole reasons its set in Kauaʻi and not O'ahu is Stitch's need to go to a large city as part of his "programming" for destruction. As shown at the beginning of the movie with them going around the island in a Barbie care trying to find a way for him to reach a large city. So that would completely change the whole film, too large of a change, one that would have had a huge backlash in my opinion.

This is some of the things writers/directors think of when setting up a plot of a movie. Things that many of us don't think about when we're talking about plot points that don't make sense in our minds, there is a larger reason why something wasn't chosen.

So she gets permission to take mostly online classes and goes in once a month. Or she uses the portal gun every morning, unbeknownst to the school. Or it just so happens they started a satellite program nearby. Or the whole family and neighbor move to O’ahu. Or Nani starts her own surf school. Etc, etc, etc.

Again, we’re talking about a world literally created by the writers. They can write whatever they want, within reason. I think the idea that there was just no other possible ending (in the world that they, the writers, made up,) is obviously a huge stretch. This was clearly a decision they wanted to make - and I’m not saying that’s a terrible thing, just saying the reason is not immediately clear to me.

 

[Phroobar]

The whole movie shows she is struggling financially as she can't keep a job due to having to take care of Lilo and would require a scholarship in order to go to college at a any school whether a local school or one far away. Its something faced by many young working moms, which she essentially is. So unless Hawaii was offering such financial aid why would that be an immediate option.

I would assume if she applied to UH she would get a scholarship just like she did from San Diego. She is also a native Hawaiian which would open up a world of in state grants and financial aid.

But this story is fiction. It was never thought of by the writers. Another dumb addition that the original story never needed.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I just think it’s a happier ending for her.

And presuming a sequel, it sets up a different stage for the next one.

Yeah, my guess is they didn’t foresee the backlash over the idea of Ohana being used in service of something like American individualism. And I think the outrage mobs are overstating things - a character can have a character arc without it having some huge hidden meaning about society at large. It can just be about Nani and her choices, not a statement on the entire world.

 

[Disney Irish]

I would assume if she applied to UH she would get a scholarship just like she did from San Diego. She is also a native Hawaiian which would open up a world of in state grants and financial aid.

But this story is fiction. It was never thought of by the writers. Another dumb addition that the original story never needed.

As just mentioned UoH is on a completely different island so still not technically "local". So the whole story would have had to move to O'ahu in order for that to work. Which then puts the whole conceit of Stitch staying away from a large city at the beginning of the movie into question. So basically you just opened up a whole other can of worms in the plot by trying to fix this one, one that I'm sure the writers thought of and tried to avoid which is why they chose a college on the main land.

 

[Disney Irish]

So she gets permission to take mostly online classes and goes in once a month. Or she uses the portal gun every morning, unbeknownst to the school. Or it just so happens they started a satellite program nearby. Or the whole family and neighbor move to O’ahu. Or Nani starts her own surf school. Etc, etc, etc.

Again, we’re talking about a world literally created by the writers. They can write whatever they want, within reason. I think the idea that there was just no other possible ending (in the world that they, the writers, made up,) is obviously a huge stretch. This was clearly a decision they wanted to make - and I’m not saying that’s a terrible thing, just saying the reason is not immediately clear to me.

And for every one of those suggestions you just opened up another plot hole that needs to be filled.

The biggest and largest reason is Stitch, that is why they didn't have the movie try to have her go local. It would have destroyed the whole conceit of the film with trying to keep Stitch away from a large city.

 

[DisneyHead123]

And for every one of those suggestions you just opened up another plot hole that needs to be filled.

The biggest and largest reason is Stitch, that is why they didn't have the movie try to have her go local. It would have destroyed the whole conceit of the film with trying to keep Stitch away from a large city.

Doesn’t Stitch travel all over with them in the ending of the first movie? Maybe I’m misremembering, I thought the post credit montage showed he’d gotten over destroying cities. (But even if he didn’t - this is fiction. The writers could say his ability to love now means he doesn’t try to destroy cities anymore.)