Lilo & Stitch

The working title was Bad Dog, after Stitch being taken for one. Dean Fleischer Camp shot in Hawaii but on Oahu, not Kauai where the franchise is set, blaming logistics. The shoot stopped in the 2023 actors’ strike, restarting in February 2024. The Pelekai house was a temporary build at Kualoa Ranch. Stitch first reached the set as a puppet: ILM had Legacy Effects build animatronic versions, one for underwater work, so the young cast had something physical to react to rather than empty air. The puppets are not in the finished film; they were cleaned out of the footage shot by shot and a computer-generated Stitch put in. Where Lilo takes him for a dog, a French bulldog named Dale stood in. The final cut carries 1,673 effects shots, some handed to other vendors when MPC went into administration 6 weeks before delivery. Gantu, the original’s villain, is gone; Fleischer Camp argued for moving that role to Jumba, saying Gantu’s arrival turned the 2002 film into something more conventional. Chris Sanders, its co-director, voices Stitch again. A good fit if you want Nani’s guardianship and the social worker’s file given as much room as the wreckage Stitch leaves. Not for viewers expecting characters and villain to line up one for one with the 2002 film.