⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Rated PG | 108 minutes

For Memorial Day Weekend, Disney is breaking box office records with its latest live-action remake that hit theaters officially on Thursday. “Lilo & Stich” has reportedly taken in a record-setting $145.5 million domestically so far, with another $340 million global. Newest projections take the film to a $183 million haul here in the states.

To say that’s a lot is an understatement. Heavily promoted, it was expected to be a huge summer hit, but this is surpassing all expectations. However, if you’ve seen it, you know just how genuine the film is to the original, while fleshing out a lot of the plot points the animated film often left shallow.

Sorry for the delay in getting this post out, but I’ve been in the middle of executive producing the WorldPride Saturday + Sunday Concerts for Washington, DC’s Capital Pride Alliance, a position I’ve held for the last decade and a half. Seeing this film in an early advanced screening was an incredible way to start my own WorldPride celebration as Stitch has become a bit of an icon for the LGBTQ+ community.

“Ohana” means family, after all, and it’s interchangable for our real and our chosen families. This spirit of family is alive and well in Disney’s remake. At times a shot-for-shot redo, the film tells the story of a bio-engineerd alien (Stitch) that escapes persecution and imprisonment on his home planet by escaping to Earth, only to wreak havoc in this new world.

Stitch (voice reprised by Chris Sanders) doesn’t arrive to Earth alone, being followed by two bumbling aliens – one, his creator, and the other a studier of all-things Earth, Jumba Jookiba (Zach Galifinakis) and Pleakley (Billy Magnussen). Both truly own these characters with Billy eeking out a stellar performance above Zach’s own take. Both are superb in this iconic roles.

When Stitch arrives and causes all sorts of chaotic panic across the big island of Hawai’i, he finally ends up at an animal shelter where he quickly realizes his best chance at survival is to emulate what he sees around him: stray dogs. This is how he comes to meet Lilo, a troubled young girl trying to make and keep friends in an ever more difficult world for kids today. The character is played beautifully by Maia Kealoha, who along with Sydney Agudong’s Nina, work quite well together in a beliveably real struggling-sister relationship through the film.

If you haven’t seen the first film, Lilo is often left to look after herself as Nani finds odd jobs trying to make ends meet and keep their family together. They were left on their own after their parents perished in a car accident. Nani often finds herself at odds with a social worker, played the very same actor that played Nani in the animated film: Tia Carrere. It was a nice nod to the original and it works well here splitting the original role portrayed singularly by Ving Rhames as Cobra Bubbles.

Bubbles is now a separate role. No longer a former CIA agent turned social worker, Bubbles is soley an active agent played by a very committed Courtney B. Vance, taking over for Ving Rhames, who was presumably tied up with filming of “Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning”.

The director of the film, Dean Fleischer Camp (“Marcel The Shell With Shoes On”) stated he found it difficult to have an intimidating figure such as Bubbles portray a social worker. As mentioned, it’s a good call and it works here – plus gives reason for Tia Carrere to get involved in a role that required nuance.

For many, it’s a drastic change, but once you see how it all plays out – it’s a welcome change and actually satisfied one of the plot points that always bothered me about the original. The more the merrirer, in this case.

A few other plot points are modernized for today’s audiences, but they all remain central to the core theme of the film: “Ohana means family”. Aside from a few weird “couldn’t that fix that in post?” interactions with the faithfully-genuine-CGI’d Stitch, this film hits all the feels and it’s no wonder it’s a massive box office success.

As mentioned early, Stitch has become somewhat of an LGBTQ+ legend because of his outcast status that finds his chosen family… his chosen Ohana. For that reason alone, the timing of the release right ahead of Pride month further solidifies the support that Disney continues to show to our community. Outshining most other companies that continue to retreat from such affirmations. It’s a film that isn’t just made for families… but is made for ALL families.

We are all Stitch’s Ohana.