Jumba And Pleakley Get An Unusual Human Makeover In Lilo & Stitch (And It's Easy To Understand Why)

Stitch might be cute and fluffy, but spoilers are not. Read no further unless you've watched the "Lilo & Stitch" remake.

In case you've been living under a rock for the last decade and a half, allow me to clue you into the way Disney approaches its money-making trend of live-action remakes. The broad strokes of the story will remain largely the same as the original, oftentimes even in the form of beat-for-beat recreations. If there were any dated or poorly-aged elements the last time around, you can expect those rough edges to be safely sanded off. Yet, above all else, there's simply no avoiding the idea of beautifully-rendered, hand-drawn animation designs being turned into much less impressive visual effects creations ... which may or may not tip into the realm of the uncanny valley. Need we even remind you of those wonky-looking dwarfs in the live-action "Snow White" movie?

But maybe there is a way around that last part, at least. "Lilo & Stitch" pretty much fits the studio's usual model to a T, as /Film's BJ Colangelo wrote in her review, led by the experiment Stitch (voiced once again by Chris Sanders) and newcomer Maia Kealoha as the rambunctious Lilo. With that said, it's the supporting cast of characters that end up marking one of the most significant changes from the acclaimed original 2002 film. As fans know, Stitch isn't the only alien invading the unsuspecting people of Hawai'i. Miscreant scientist Jumba and his reluctant sidekick Pleakley are both recruited to apprehend Stitch and keep the native humans unaware of extraterrestrial activity as they do so. Those anticipating fairly faithful recreations of these characters' respective designs will get exactly that — though only up to a point.

Early in the remake, audiences are introduced to the concept of cloning tech that conveniently disguises our two resident aliens as, well, actors Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen. Responses to such a big change will likely be mixed. As it so happens, however, there are several understandable reasons behind this different approach.

As much as we'd like to think that any major change to an adaptation occurs in a vacuum, reality almost always dictates otherwise, and "Lilo & Stitch" is no exception. The biggest and most obvious motivation behind Jumba and Pleakley receiving a human makeover has everything to do with good ol' fashioned money. For a movie that already had to account for a significant CGI character in almost every scene, it's easy to see why the addition of two more would've likely been unmanageable from a budget perspective. In fact, as we address in a separate /Film article, that's probably the same reason why a significant character from the original movie like Gantu was omitted completely from the action in this new film. (Hollywood studios making key creative decisions based on capitalism? Please excuse me while I find some pearls to clutch!)

The second reason is a bit more practical. When you hire performers as recognizable as Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen, wouldn't you want to actually see them getting up to their usual antics? Sure, it's admittedly not quite as fun as watching a one-eyed weirdo with a swollen head or a physically imposing, Russian-accented heavyweight ... but that's what the original is for! For my money, neither of these actors' voices really fit the designs for their respective alien characters anyway, so removing that element altogether for most of the remake means one less distraction to deal with, too.

And, finally, there's the simplest explanation of them all. The plot of the original involves a cadre of zany aliens invading Earth, blending in as locals, and wreaking havoc without anyone beyond certain undercover CIA agents (looking at you, Cobra Bubbles!) being the wiser. The animated movie had no trouble at all getting viewers to buy into incredibly silly ideas, like everyone being fooled by Stitch retracting his antennae and extra limbs to pretend to be a dog or Jumba and Pleakley posing as human tourists simply by wearing colorful clothes. That suspension of disbelief only goes so far in a live-action remake, however. Naturally, this raises the question of whether it's even worth making these live-action remakes in the first place, but that goes back to those dollar signs I was talking about before. Three birds, one stone.

"Lilo & Stitch" is now playing in theaters.