Warning: This article contains spoilers for 2025’sLilo & Stitch.Nani’s final decision in the live-actionLilo & Stitchhas proven to be divisive, but it ultimately makes sense. The 2025 movie is a reimagining of the 2002 Disney animated feature of the same name. Helmed byMarcel the Shell with Shoes Ondirector Dean Fleischer Camp from a screenplay by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes, the movie follows lonely young Hawaiian orphan Lilo (Maia Kealoha) befriending the mischievous alien genetic experiment Stitch (Chris Sanders), just when her 19-year-old sister Nani (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong) is struggling to prove to Child Protective Services that she is a worthy guardian.
The remake generally follows the same story beats as theoriginal animatedLilo & Stitch, butit does make some major changes. One of the most consequential is turning Stitch’s creator Jumba (Zach Galifianakis) into the villain rather than an amoral ally, alongside eliminating the original villain - Captain Gantu - altogether. These changes also include the addition of the character Tūtū (Amy Hill), who is Nani and Lilo’s neighbor as well as the grandmother of Nani’s love interest David Kawena (Kaipo Dudoit). However, the biggest change, as well as one of the most hotly contested, involves Nani’s final decision.
Nani Going To College & Leaving Lilo Has Been Controversial
The Internet Has Not Been Kind To This Major Change
One of the biggest surprises to come from theLilo & Stitchendingis the fact thatNani decides to go to college to study marine biology, leaving Lilo behind to be adopted by Tūtū, who has a longstanding bond with Lilo thanks to babysitting for her frequently and fostering her passions, including helping her adopt Stitch. Nani is encouraged to make this decision by both Tūtū, who snuck Nani’s acceptance letter back into her bag after she threw it away, and her social worker Mrs. Kekoa (Tia Carrere), who believes that the choice is best for Lilo.
Tia Carrere was the voice of Nani in the original animated movie.
The final scene of the movie reveals thatthe sisters remain close after this decision is made, by showing Nani using the portal gun that Jumba left behind to come visit Lilo and wish her good night. However, Nani’s decision to abdicate her responsibility to Lilo is a direct reversal of the original movie, which instead sees the sisters remaining together and forging a new family with Stitch, Pleakley, and Jumba. The decision earned a great deal of backlash across social media. See select posts about Nani’s decision below:
On X,Jaden the Celestialreflected the view of many fans by asserting that Nani’s decision is in direct opposition to the recurring line in both the original movie and the remake that"Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.“Jaden presents a faux line from the movie where a more flippant Nani instead says, “Yeah, but our parents just HAD to abandon us by dying in that car crash we never mentioned happened, so yeah… have fun living with the neighbors while I go to Marine Biology school!”
Slatestaff writerNadira Goffeshared an excerpt from Goffe’s own piece on the movie, highlighting the portion about Nani’s decision which explains that “Native Hawaiians have historically had families ripped apartvia forced relocation, medical incarceration that occasionally saw young children taken into custody, the effects of land dispossession, and, as Native Hawaiian historian and scholar Maile Arvin reports, federal boarding schools used to force assimilation upon Native children as a ‘damper’ to ‘more widespread resistance to U.S. colonialism in the territorial period.'”
Why Nani’s Decision Makes Sense For Her In Lilo & Stitch
The Live-Action Movie Tries To Give Her The Best Of Both Worlds
While the objections to Nani’s decision in2025’sLilo & Stitchare valid and grounded both in the text of the franchise and the realities of the experience of Hawaiian people, it nevertheless does make sense why the filmmakers decided to alter that particular aspect of the narrative so substantially. Because the remake is in live-action,there are different expectations for it than there would be in an animated property. When Nani is an animated character, it makes more sense for her life to remain static, because she exists in a universe that is a stylized version of reality.
For instance, it is not uncommon for cartoon characters such as Bart Simpson or Doug Funnie to wear the same outfit every day, but it would read as strange for the same to be the case of a character in a live-action project. By having an actor bring Nani to life onscreen,it highlights the character’s youth and her unrealized dreams in addition to emphasizing the fact that she is in over her headwhen it comes to properly caring for Lilo in a way that wouldn’t register in animation.
The movie takes pains to emphasize the way that she is never fully disconnected from her sister…
Recognizing this issue,the movie gives Nani more of a support systemfrom the very beginning than she has in the 2002 movie. This primarily comes in the form of Tūtū and Mrs. Kekoa, neither of whom arecharacters from the originalLilo & Stitch. Additionally, while allowing Nani to achieve her personal dreams, the movie takes pains to emphasize the way that she is never fully disconnected from her sister and intends to return to her home (which is just next door) and remain a fundamental part of her sister’s life during and after her education.
Additionally,her marine biology degree will allow her to find a job that better prepares her to support her family, which now includes Stitch and Pleakley (Billy Magnussen) in addition to Lilo.
What The Director Has Said About Nani’s Decision
Dean Fleischer Camp Defends The Ending Of Lilo & Stitch
In an effort to support the new movie’s vision forNani’s decision inLilo & Stitch,Dean Fleischer Campalso took to social media himself, sharing aForbesarticle by Laura Sirikul about the end of the movie and saying that"For anybody questioning the ending of our film, this beautiful piece… nails it.“Read an excerpt from the piece below:
In Hawaiian culture, ohana doesn’t have to mean just blood family, but also includes community and found family… Tutu has been there for them for many years, which brought authenticity to the story because the community of Hawaii would be there to support them… The ending is actually paying a service to the phrase, as Nani herself doesn’t get left behind in her life and her dreams. Nani is a person, and those aspirations shouldn’t be forgotten or abandoned… She gave it all up to be her sister’s keeper. People often forget about the caretakers and the burnout that they suffer, as well as the sacrifices they make.
The article also points out other elements of the movie that support this change, including the fact thatNani initially pushes back against the idea of her leaving for collegeuntil Lilo herself encourages her to do so. Additionally, the article points out the fact that Stitch is now in Lilo’s life, meaning that she has yet another character in her vicinity with whom she shares a deep bond, meaning that she is not as alone as she felt at the beginning of the movie, at a point when Nani was still her primary guardian.
The Meaning Of Nani’s New Ending In Lilo & Stitch
Nani’s Decision Is Central To The Live-Action Remake
Dean Fleischer Camp’s support of the message delivered by theForbespiece seems to cement the idea thatthe intention behind the movie is not for Lilo and Nani to be cruelly separated, but for both of them to get exactly what they want and need without sacrificing their sisterly bond. Whether or not the movie achieved its goals in an effective manner is up to interpretation. However, a number of the changes inLilo & Stitchhave been made entirely so they can support Nani’s decision, making it an organic and natural endpoint to the movie as it exists.
Source(s):Slate,Forbes, & Various X posts (see above)
