The Live-Action ‘Lilo and Stitch’ Overlooked a Pivotal Part of Lilo’s Childhood Lore

As Disney continues to release live-action adaptations of its classic films, millennials were elated to see how one childhood classic, Lilo and Stitch, would look in a reimagined, real-world version. The animated film debuted in 2002 and was so successful that several sequels, an animated series, and a short film followed.

Lilo and Stitch's live-action reboot focused on the first film. It kept many of its themes, including the importance of "Ohana," which, as fans know, "means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten." Both movies explored the origin story of the star, Lilo, and how she found her best friend, Stitch, after the devastating loss of her parents. However, the filmmakers' journey to explain what happened to Lilo's parents showed up differently.

In both versions of Lilo and Stitch, Lilo is raised by her sister, Nani. The 2002 film's Lilo and Nani were voiced by Daveigh Chase and Tia Carrere, respectively, and were portrayed by Maia Kealoha as Lilo and Sydney Agudong as Nani in the live-action film. Like the animated version, the live-action movie followed the sisters as they navigated the unexpected loss of their parents, Mr. Makuakane and Mrs. Makuahine Pelekai. However, while fans know what happened to Lilo's parents in the cartoon, their deaths are a mystery in the live-action version.

In the animated version, Lilo and Nani's parents died in a car crash. The cartoon version of Lilo mentioned that the crash may have happened due to a thunderstorm. However, their legacy lived on through photos in the sisters' house and their father's coined phrase, "Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten."

Unlike the animated movie, the Lilo and Stitch live-action version didn't share any details about Lilo's parents being involved in a car crash. Instead, they leave it up to the audience's imagination. However, as Screen Rant shared, the parents are featured quite a bit, with Stitch even attempting to save one final photo before the family’s house is destroyed.

While the live-action Lilo and Stitch doesn't explicitly say how Lilo and Nani's parents died, it alludes to them dying in a car crash in one scene. Both films include Lilo’s odd ritual with a fish named Pudge, whom she feeds a peanut butter sandwich every Thursday because she believes he controls the weather. Sound familiar?

Lilo's parents' deaths caused her older sister, Nani, to raise her, a theme that is central to both movies. While the live-action Lilo and Stitch didn't focus on how they died, the audience saw a deeper side of the sacrifice Nani made to care for her sister. In the 2025 film, she decided to forego her ambitions of becoming a marine biologist to care for her sister. The movie's director, Dean Fleischer Camp, said showing what Nani gave up to raise her sister was a necessary layer to the story and gave the theme of "Ohana" a little more "nuance."

"It just felt like the right thing to do," Camp told Deadline. "Given that Nani, who I always felt was a little too rose-colored glasses for somebody in her situation, was so smart and has had to abandon a lot of these dreams or defer them because she had to take care of her little sister and inherited all this responsibility at such a young age."

"It just felt like she might not have such an easy time buying into, 'Nobody gets left behind' because she certainly would feel like, 'well, I’m struggling here,"' he added. "So that informed the approach that we took with the story and with the arch between the two sisters and what the resolution ended up being."

While both versions show Nani as a strong parental figure in Lilo's life, showing her goals reminded fans that she experienced an unimaginable loss too. Fortunately, the sisters find solace when Stitch and his antics enter their lives!