“Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind.” That is the iconic phrase from Lilo & Stitch, a masterpiece produced by The Walt Disney Company in 2002, which many people recognize and love.

The movie made over at the worldwide box office, becoming the fan favorite, and one of Disney’s most recognizable mascots.

“I think Lilo and Stitch is an amazing movie, I love the concept of how it talks about a girl who is lonely and has no one to talk to it shows the struggles of childhood, and I think they touched upon it pretty well,” Sophomore Kaique Souza said.

20 years later with the director of the Academy Award-nominated Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021), the latest live-action Lilo will be released, audiences around the world will get the chance to fall in love with the young girl and her pet alien all over again.

“I want a new fun movie to watch with my family, when it is a new movie that the original was made when I was little, so it brings back memories,” Freshman Kaytlin Potter said.

Since the Lilo & Stitch remake is still in the initial stages of production, there is not even enough existing material for a trailer, but the cast is being slowly confirmed and did not please some fans.

“I was so shocked when I saw a video on Tik Tok showing Stitch in live action, all my Tik Tok was people reacting and shocked about this because it is nothing like the original, and Stitch is one of the studios most recognizable characters, they can’t afford to mess him up,” Sophomore Francine Kern said.

Another character that has been creating controversy in social media is Nani’s character that is going to be portrayed by Sydney Agudong. She is Hawaiian, but her skin tone is clearly lighter than that of the on-screen character, that is giving reason to fans accusing the producers of “whitewashing” which is known as the removal or substitution of characters of color with white ones.

“I think Disney should keep the ethnicity of the character and Nani should be interpreted by a dark skin native Hawaiian, because they did that with Ariel and she just a fish we are talking about a real person who have a culture,” Kern said

Although there is not yet any official information on the Lilo & Stitch movie’s plot, the speculation is that it will largely adhere to the plot of the first movie.

“To be honest I’m expecting a lot from this movie, a lot of people love and adore Stitch, I hope that they can reach the same level of admiration from this movie as they did the last and that they don’t fail in making this movie as Stitch has become a favorite for many fans,” Souza said.