Lilo & Stitch (2025)

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Lilo & Stitch (2025)
• a review of Lilo & Stitch (2025) completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 27 May 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Having been convicted by the United Galactic Federation for illegal genetic experimentation, Dr Jumba (Zach Galifianakis) is initially imprisoned while his highly destructive and intelligent mutation ‘Experiment 626’, later called ‘Stitch’ (Chris Sanders), is exiled. However, 626 escapes, steals a spacecraft and crash lands in the Hawaiian Islands.

Meanwhile, Lilo Pelekai (Maia Kealoha), a lonely and mischievous young girl, struggles to fit in with her peers after her parents' passing. She is being cared for by her older sister Nani (Sydney Agudong), who is under increasing pressure from a social worker to give up her claim on Lilo and allow her to be placed into care. Nani tries to hold what is left of her family together and prove she can care for Lilo but when Lilo adopts a ‘dog’ from the local shelter, things go from bad to worse. Neither is aware that Stitch, the creature masquerading as a dog, is actually Experiment 626 and that a pair of aliens have been sent to Earth to neutralise the threat he presents.

As Stitch attempts to outwit the aliens sent to capture him, he begins to learn about what it means to have a family, even an imperfect one, and he starts to understand that he is capable of far more than he was created for.

Family breakdown; Death of parents; Aliens; Bullying; Lack of personal identity; Loss and Grief.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• In a Federation spaceship, there are robots trained to target and shoot Stitch on sight. Stitch spits on the scientists and turns their armed robots against them, destroying a laboratory and wreaking havoc on the ship as he escapes, whilst the robots shoot everything in sight.
• An entire Federation army fires at Stitch as he flees in a red, police space cruiser.
• There are threats to vaporise planet Earth to contain Stitch.
• Lilo yells at Nani: “Leave me alone to die!”
• Stitch bashes every control he can find in a space cruiser.
• Stitch is repeatedly electrocuted by a collar until he manages to electrocute the collar and break it off his neck. He causes a massive power-outage in the process.
• People try to hit Stitch with a broom after he crashes a wedding and farts in a punch bowl.
• A woman hits a man in the face with a broom and nearly hits Stitch but winds up smashing the wedding cake instead.
• Stitch is run over by a tour bus in slow motion.
• Agents shoot darts at Stitch.
• One alien shoots another.
• Stitch rips the upholstery in Nani’s car and tosses a CD out the back window. The CD hits another car and causes an accident.
• Stitch accidentally sets a table on fire.
• Stitch wreaks havoc at Nani’s house, knocking over furniture, filling the blender with forks and turning it on, lighting the gas stove and leaving it, and knocking everything off the table and breaking plates in the process.
• Stitch eats a photo and tries to eat a chair.
• Two alien agents chase Lilo and Stitch on a jet ski, a character flips over on the jet ski and Stitch nearly drowns Lilo when they are flung into the water.
• Stitch repeatedly falls through a hole that acts as a portal when he uses an alien gun to shoot through the floor and ceiling.
• A creepy alien with a gun tries to shoot Lilo and Stitch.
• A door is shot off its hinges and shots are fired at a window and roof.
• An alien shoots through the door to Lilo’s parents’ bedroom. Stitch then shoots at the alien and bites him on the neck.
• Lilo pepper sprays a guy and Stitch is blasted into a cabinet.
• A hole is shot in the floor and a refrigerator falls through the hole, crushing a character.
• Nani’s house falls down and begins to collapse around Lilo.
• Stitch attacks a man and punches him. The man electrocutes Stitch.
• A character is sucked out through a hole in the side of a spaceship.
• Lilo and Stitch crash a spaceship into the ocean.
• Lilo is trapped under debris and pinned to the ocean floor.

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• Some of the aliens are creepy-looking and may be disturbing to young children, especially as they are always lurking around Lilo and trying to capture Stitch.
• There are a couple of scenes where aliens transform into people and then back into aliens.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• Lilo and Nani are still both grieving the loss of their parents and the State agency appears very determined to take Lilo away from Nani. Some children may find this subtle, yet constant, threat of separation somewhat distressing.
• When Lilo and Stitch crash a ship into the ocean, Lilo is pinned to the sea floor under some debris. Stitch manages to get the debris off of her but he becomes very heavy in the process. Lilo isn’t strong enough to pull him to the surface and must go up for air. Nani quickly gets Lilo onto a surfboard and tries to get her back to shore while Lilo screams that they have to save Stitch. By the time that Nani returns for him and is able to get him to the beach, Stitch has drowned. There is a very emotional scene as a group tries to resuscitate him and Lilo sobs, realising that her friend is gone. Eventually, Stitch gasps for air and comes back to life but the emotional intensity and sense of peril could be upsetting for some viewers.

• Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

• Capri-sun juice packets are shown and used in multiple scenes.
• Hawaiian Airlines is clearly displayed.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• A neighbour, who has a crush on Nani, stumbles over his words and says: “I love shredding you. I love watching you.”

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• Nani and a neighbour boy kiss in a photo.
• While doing a hula dance, Stitch’s skirt drops to the floor and he quickly moves to cover himself as if to protect his modesty.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• Stitch drinks from a pineapple with a little umbrella in it.
• Lilo and Stitch shoot each other with a spritzer hose in a Tiki bar.
• Lilo and Stitch stack and destroy wine glasses.
• Stitch drinks the liquid from a lava lamp, despite Lilo advising him not too.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• Crikey!
• Garbage girl
• Silly
• Buffoon
• Pizza Face
• Stupid
• Hairy potato
• Freakish monster.

In a nutshell

Lilo & Stitch is a live-action remake of Disney’s 2002 film of the same name. It features lots of fast-paced special effects and a familiar storyline that celebrates unconditional love, individuality and embracing differences. The film is best suited to audiences over the age of 8.

The main messages from this movie are that family means that “no one is left behind or forgotten” and that family itself is not restricted to blood relations but includes those who love and support you no matter what; and that just because people may see you as bad doesn’t mean that is how you have to be.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• The importance of family
• Belonging
• Determination
• Redemption
• Compassion
• Responsibility.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of family connection and togetherness and the fact that just because someone makes a mistake and does something wrong doesn’t make them a bad person and that just because families aren’t perfect doesn’t mean they aren’t good.